Weird operators in PHP If you read the PHP documentation, you will learn about a ton of operators. If you haven’t learnt about PHP operators, go do that first, we’ll wait for you. Operators are usually made up with strange symbols, like !, -, =>, <=>, ^ or ~. Really, some are plain readable like […]
26
Apr
Apr
How many parameters is too many? Now, that is a classic question, that is often a minefield for anyone writing an increasing long list of argument in a method, or simply trying to set up auditing tools. Obviously, the answer is not immediate. Parameters may be needed, but on the other hands, currying functions allows […]
19
Jun
Jun
Exakat 0.11.8 review Exakat 0.11.8 has been published, as usual on Monday. This week, exakat received its very first PHP 7.2 specific analyzer : PHP 7.2 supports overwriting abstract methods. It goes with all the other PHP 7.2 analyzers that are ready. The Ambassador report now includes reports about framework usage, string encoding and a […]
31
May
May
Exakat 0.11.5 is out, right after the excellent Darkmira Tour Brazil. Although it delayed the Monday publication, it also gave a list of good ideas and some time in the airport to work on it. So, this version is featuring a new report, called ‘Dependency wheel’, and four new analysis: Avoid typehinting with classes, Could […]
10
Mar
Mar
Exakat 0.10.4 review Exakat 0.10.4 shipped with two new analyzers. Here is a short presentation of them : No Need For Else The else branch may be ignored if the then branch actually leaves the current function. <?php function foo($a) { // Else may be in the main sequence. if ($a1) { return 1; } else […]
20
Feb
Feb
Where can you get an elephpant ? The elephpant is the famous unofficial logo of the PHP community, turned into a snugly plush toy. They have been around the Internet since 2007, and may be met about everywhere. Elephpants have been sighted on every emerged continent in the world. But where can you get an elephpant ? There […]
09
Nov
Nov
Last week, I ran into ‘PHP Dos and Don’ts aka Programmers I Don’t Like‘ on reddit’s PHP group. It features a list of 11 points that the author hates finding in PHP code. I am always keen on reading from such references : they always hold some some interesting insights, some tips and some more polemic […]
06
Sep
Sep
This is the third part of our series about last features in PHP 7.1. See ‘Upcoming features in PHP 7.1 (part a)‘ and ‘More upcoming features in PHP 7.1 (part b)‘. PHP 7.1 is now RC1 since our last article, so better dive into the code fast. We are now presenting the last batch of […]
18
Aug
Aug
Upcoming features in PHP 7.1 The time to meet and greet PHP 7.0 is not so distant, and PHP 7.1 is already knocking at the door ! Since last year, the PHP group has been busy adding features, fixing old ones and keeping the new version as fast as possible : yet, PHP 7.1 managed to have […]
17
Jun
Jun
There are two moments in the life cycle of a project where you can apply a long known best practice : « write test first, then the code ». The first one is when you start writing the code, and you have some time. The second is when the current architecture of the software has reached its maximal […]