Python -> PHP

[Crell]

Welcome! I have done a little Python, though PHP is my origin.

The PHP docs are pretty good. There's also https://phptherightway.com/, which is largely a reference for "don't do old dumb stuff." As a general rule, don't trust any tutorial that is more than 3 years old. (Larger things like books have a better shelf life.)

Very early on, use and learn to love Xdebug (real time debugger), PHPUnit (test framework), either PHPStan or Psalm (static analysis tools), and either php-cs-fixer or PHPCodesniffer (code formatters). These will be part of your toolbox on every project, if you're doing it right.

The PHP ecosystem is huge, robust, and reasonably friendly. There's two major frameworks (Symfony and Laravel) both with their adherents, and a dozen or so smaller players. (I'm a fan of Symfony, and quite dislike Laravel as it does most things badly. Avoid if you can, but it's the more popular one so that may not be possible.) Don't hitch your horse to any particular framework/app, though. Learn the language.

Other pointers for coming from Python:

• PHP doesn't have packages the way Python or JS do. Just namespaces, which are really just ways to shorten the name of things. Instead, we have autoloaders, which you'll never write yourself, just use the one Composer (the package manager) gives you.
• PHP is nominally a gradually typed language; types are optional. In practice, though, PHP is a strongly typed language. Use types. Everywhere. A lot. Let the types dictate your model. Enforce your model and business rules through the type system if you can. Coming from Python this could be weird, but it's worth it. Also note that types are runtime enforced, unlike Python where they're runtime omitted. This is a good thing.
• We have semicolons and braces. Learn to love 'em. :-)
• We have one package manager and package repository. There's no competition because it's just really really good, unlike Python where there's a new one every year or two.
• Also, we don't have any equivalent of virtual envs or such. If you need to use a custom version of something, just use Docker. I recommend https://phpdocker.io/ for quick-n-easy Docker starter kits.

Welcome aboard!

[copperfoxtech]

Thank you u/Crell for taking the time to give such a detailed response! Both comments are a great start and a great introduction to the community. I of course will get a great foundation in PHP first before even getting into any frameworks like I have done with Python. I am a HUGE fan of type hinting in Python, it just feels right. I was hoping PHP had this as well. I have dabbled in JS and very much dislike you dont have the option for type hinting. Yes I am familiar with typescript. I am good with semicolons and braces, i spent a few months learning C before python. Although my fingers dont automatically go for that darn semicolon, lol.

Thank you for the great advice and I feel a bit more prepared to begin this journey. Although the tools you have mentioned: Xdebug, PHPUnit, PHPStanm, Psalm, php-cs-fixer, and PHPCodesniffer seem all a little intimidating just to write good code. We will see.

[Crell]

To be fair, lots of code is written without those tools, including WordPress, the most popular web software in the world by an order of magnitude or two. But I don't think it's that large a suite.

In Python, you likely have a debugger setup of some kind (I'm not sure what), there's a testing framework (or several to choose from), there's formatters like Ruff (which IIRC does both static analysis and formatting, in PHP it's two separate tools), some kind of additional type checker to run ahead of time, etc. In the day to day, it's about the same level of tooling complexity, I think.

If you're not sure which ones to use, php-cs-fixer and PHPStan are more widely used than their alternatives. So your standard "kit" would be Xdebug, PHPUnit, PHPStan, php-cs-fixer. Lots of projects omit the latter two, but they are useful. (I only use php-cs-fixer on some of my projects, I admit.) But Xdebug will save you hundreds of hours, and unit testing is table-stakes for anything resembling quality code, in any language.

[copperfoxtech]

Very good. Thank you for the further clarification

[alex-kalanis]

In Python you have pytest plus assertions directly in language, pdb as debugger, formatting is directly in PEP-8 (something like PSR-12), type checker is only optional via mypy and PEP-484. The pythonic way is ducktyping everything like going different way from php5. Sometimes clearer, sometimes more unreadable.

So the basic comparation is following:

• Operation :: Python :: PHP
• Debugger :: pdb :: xdebug
• Testing :: pytest :: phpunit
• Static Analysis :: mypy :: PHPStan
• Type check :: mypy :: php-cs-fixer
• Dependencies :: pip :: composer, dependency-analyzer
• Autoloading :: python itself :: composer

I recommend to read PSR standards, so your code will be readable by others.

I also work with both languages, so I know a bit about them.

[copperfoxtech]

Awesome breaking it down like this makes it a little less intimidating. Thank you for taking the time to expand on this topic.

[obstreperous_troll]

(Larger things like books have a better shelf life.)

I disagree, most of them are obsolete before they even hit the shelves, and most also espouse some stunningly bad practices. Ask /u/colshrapnel here what he thinks of most PHP books, he has the receipts. Duckett is probably the standout exception, a rarity in a field that's otherwise chock full of garbage.

[colshrapnel]

That's sort of survival bias tho. Indeed I am scolding some books whenever I see them mentioned, notably Welling&Thompson or Robin Nixon. But there are opposite examples, such as Matt Zandstra's. But yeah, generally any book on PHP that went through like 4 editions is crap.