PHP Crash Course

From First Script to Full Website—Fast!

Tired of cobbling together PHP solutions from scattered online tutorials? Frustrated by outdated PHP practices that leave your code vulnerable and hard to maintain? Whether you’re building your first dynamic website or modernizing legacy systems, PHP Crash Course gives you a complete, practical foundation for writing professional web applications.

In this comprehensive, example-driven guide, you’ll learn how to:

• Write clean, maintainable PHP code using modern language features and best practices
• Build secure web applications that protect against common vulnerabilities
• Master database integration using PDO and object-relational mappings (ORMs)
• Implement professional features like shopping carts and user authentication
• Structure applications using object-oriented programming and model-view-controller (MVC) patterns
• Leverage powerful tools like Composer and Twig to accelerate development

Starting with PHP fundamentals, you’ll progress through six carefully crafted sections covering essential patterns, security best practices, database integration, and advanced concepts like object-oriented programming. Each chapter builds on real-world examples, giving you the skills to solve common development challenges.

Whether you’re a complete beginner or an experienced developer looking to modernize your PHP skills, PHP Crash Course gives you everything you need to build professional, dynamic websites with confidence.

Includes setup instructions for Windows, macOS, and Linux, and configuration details for Replit, the free online development environment.

Table of Contents

PART I: LANGUAGE FUNDAMENTALS

Chapter 1: PHP Program Basics

Chapter 2: Data Types

Chapter 3: Strings and String Functions

Chapter 4: Conditionals

Chapter 5: Custom Functions

PART II: WORKING WITH DATA

Chapter 6: Loops

Chapter 7: Simple Arrays

Chapter 8: Sophisticated Arrays

Chapter 9: Files and Directories

PART III: PROGRAMMING WEB APPLICATIONS

Chapter 10: Client/Server Communication and Web Development Basics

Chapter 11: Creating and Processing Web Forms

Chapter 12: Validating Form Data

Chapter 13: Organizing a Web Application

PART IV: STORING USER DATA WITH BROWSER SESSIONS

Chapter 14: Working with Sessions

Chapter 15: Implementing a Shopping Cart

Chapter 16: Authentication and Authorization

PART V: OBJECT-ORIENTED PHP

Chapter 17: Introduction to Object-Oriented Programming

Chapter 18: Declaring Classes and Creating Objects

Chapter 19: Inheritance

Chapter 20: Managing Classes and Namespaces with Composer

Chapter 21: Efficient Template Design with Twig

Chapter 22: Structuring an Object-Oriented Web Application

Chapter 23: Error Handling with Exceptions

Chapter 24: Logging Events, Messages, and Transactions

Chapter 25: Static Methods, Properties, and Enumerations

Chapter 26: Abstract Methods, Interfaces, and Traits

PART VI: DATABASE-DRIVEN APPLICATION DEVELOPMENT

Chapter 27: Introduction to Databases

Chapter 28: Database Programming with the PDO Library

Chapter 29: Programming CRUD Operations

Chapter 30: ORM Libraries and Database Security

Chapter 31: Working with Dates and Times

Appendix A: Installing PHP

Appendix B: Database Setup

Appendix C: Replit Configuration

About the Author

Matt Smith is a senior lecturer in computing at Technology University (TU) Dublin, specializing in interactive multimedia and server-side web development. He has been teaching for over 30 years. Smith researches the use of applied computer game technology, especially to support teaching and learning, and is one of the authors of the Unity 2021 Cookbook.