One of the most common questions I get is, "how can I get better at X?" Whether X is object oriented programming, the MVC design pattern, PHP in general or just some generic question, it's something people are seeking out.
The answer that I always give them is that it's critical for them to understand the fundamentals of whatever they're seeking knowledge in.
Friday, October 4th, 2013 @ 4:30 pm | Comments (0) | Categories: Learning, PHP
In the second live session of my object oriented design class, The Object Oriented PHP Masterclass, I show my students domain modeling, both with slides and with a live coding demonstration.
In my demonstration, I show them how I break the single model they’ve been using into three component parts: a value object, a data layer object (usually that talks to the database), and a gateway object that stands between the other two.
Wednesday, May 1st, 2013 @ 7:00 am | Comment (3) | Categories: Learning, PHP, Refactoring, Best Practices, PHP 5, Object-Oriented Development
“Using singletons is bad. Don’t do it, ever.”
“Don’t micro optimize your code! It’s pointless!”
“Don’t worry about performance until you have performance problems.”
“100% code coverage is necessary for your unit tests.”
Friday, April 5th, 2013 @ 7:00 am | Comment (4) | Categories: Learning, PHP
You’ve been learning object oriented programming. But there are certain things you don’t grasp. No matter what, you have questions that you can’t answer. Wouldn’t it be great if you could ask someone directly?
You’re in luck!
Friday, March 29th, 2013 @ 7:00 am | Comment (2) | Categories: Learning, PHP
I know most developers like you love to learn new things. They thrive on conquering new challenges and learning new techniques. Many people learn new languages just for the challenge. After all, why would anyone ever write a Brainfuck interpreter in the first place?
Many of us receive our training through our employers. We expect and accept that our employers will offer us continuing growth opportunities to boost our skills. But this creates a problem for us as our careers go on. How can you effectively train yourself for the skills you’ll need in your next job?
Thursday, March 28th, 2013 @ 7:00 am | Comment (2) | Categories: Learning, PHP
I’ve done my fair share of speaking; I won’t say I’ve done a lot of speaking (not at least compared to people like Laura Thomson, Chris Hartjes or Rafael Dohms), but I’ve done a bit. Every time you speak people expect to see code in your slides. And they expect to see both a wrong way and a right way to do a particular thing.
That’s all fine and good; slides aren’t big enough to write an entire application. But in preparing for my class, The Object Oriented PHP Masterclass, my task has been to write a complete application that my students can refactor using the principles they have learned. And writing code wrongly, on purpose, is hard.
Wednesday, March 6th, 2013 @ 7:03 am | Comment (1) | Categories: PHP, Object-Oriented Development, Learning
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