Quick Start: PHP for Experienced Programmers

The Zend Quick Start: PHP for Experienced Programmers course is designed to quickly build an experienced programmer’s understanding of the PHP language. This course covers many of the same topics as both the PHP I: Foundations and PHP II: Higher Structures classes but at an accelerated rate with special emphasis on the differences between PHP and other commonly used languages. As with the other classes, it utilizes a hands-on approach with numerous examples and practical exercises, primarily related to the course project, to enhance learning. You will also have the opportunity to use the Zend Studio IDE (Integrated Development Environment) to continue honing your coding skills utilizing best practices and effective tools.

Course Schedule

Start Date	Schedule	Number of Sessions	Hours
April 29	Tue/Thu then Mon-Fri (April 29, May 1, 6, 8, 12, 13, 14, 15 & 16)	9	4pm - 6pm (PDT) 7pm – 9pm (EDT) 11pm – 1am (GMT)

Audience

This course is designed for experienced developers (2+ years) of other languages - Procedural & OO, such as C, Java, C++, C#, JavaScript, Python, Perl, Ruby - who want to transfer their skills to PHP and need to quickly learn the PHP-specific version of common features, such as syntax and language constructs. (For ILE programmers without experience in these other programming families, we recommend taking the PHP I: Foundations and PHP II: Higher Structures courses.)

Pre-requisite(s)

Experience developing applications, 2+ years

Objectives

Upon completion of this course, participants should be able to:

Apply their existing programming skills to the PHP language
Define and utilize the components of PHP syntax, language, and structure
Set up a development environment using php.ini
Apply fundamental concepts around web application design and implementation to PHP, including Forms and Form validation, other security aspects, sessions/ cookies / buffers

Topics Include

PHP Syntax Essentials: Data types, Syntax, Quotes, Comments, Constants, Variables, Strings, Arrays, Operators, Conditionals, Loops, Functions
PHP Language: Scope, Globals, Files, Advanced Variable Usage / Array Manipulation and References, Callback Functions, Dynamic Function Invocation, Recursive Transversals, and Variable Variables
Configuring PHP: PHP.INI configuration considerations
Regular Expressions: Using Perl-Compatible Regular Expressions in PHP applications
PHP and OOP Concepts: Principles of Object-Oriented Programming and Design, Access Modifiers, Abstract Classes, Interfaces, and more
PHP Web Essentials: Sessions & Cookies, Working with Forms & Form Validation, Email, HTTP Headers, Buffers & Caches
PHP Database Essentials: Introduction to Manipulating DB Contents using PHP
Building Applications: Debugging, Security and Validation
PHP Application Essentials: Best Approaches to Creating Applications; Course Project

Zend - The PHP Company