PHP

As far as programming languages go, PHP gets major updates fairly often. This means that as time goes on, WordPress needs to update the minimum required PHP version to keep up with those updates and provide users with a better experience. While you’re reading this, WordPress is making a jump to PHP version 5.6. It’s not the latest PHP version, but it’s still a major change that’ll impact the way WordPress users do things. There’s no need to worry, though: this update is a good thing. In this article, we’re going to break down the reasoning for the jump in […]

One of the many advantages of object-oriented programing is that it allows us to write more descriptive code — code that by design has to be used a specific way. This helps move us from conventions to programmed rules in our code. That’s good, but it can complicate things. Arrays and standard class objects can hold any data, which is super-flexible but also leads to poorly-formed systems. The repository pattern gives us a way to have objects that can contain arbitrary data, but also enforce rules. I’ve written about other design patterns before. Like any other software design principle, following […]

As we progress in learning object-oriented programming (OOP) as PHP developers, the uses of certain established patterns become more important, such as one that I’v been using lately, the decorator pattern. On a textbook level, the decorator pattern lets us change a class when it runs, while extending a class allows us to change it when it is designed. That difference seems trivial, but it has important consequences on the readability and scalability of your applications. The decorator pattern is a different way of adding functionality to a class. Instead of extending it using inheritance — class A extends class B […]

Part of WordPress’ success stems from how easy it is for new developers to contribute to the platform. However, on this type of collaborative project it’s particularly important for coding styles to remain consistent. Without set guidelines, the code can quickly become unmanageable. The WordPress PHP coding standards emerged to help address this problem. Following these standards results in code that is easier for contributors to read, update, and manage. As an independent developer, learning standards like these will help you write stronger code as well. In this article, we’ll introduce you to the WordPress PHP coding standards and explain why […]

Whenever object-oriented PHP is discussed in terms of WordPress development the subject of singletons often comes up. In fact, I’ve covered them twice here on Torque. In my article on design patterns and then with Carl Alexander in my article on leveling up as a PHP developer. The singleton pattern is used in the design of a class to make it so only one single instance of that class will ever exist. Some people believe that singletons are bad or are an anti-pattern. I disagree. While I am suspicious of singletons and think they are way over-used in WordPress development […]