Question

i mainly use PHP and I have been coding using it for a while. My main problem with PHP is that I think as your program gets bigger, it gets harder to maintain your code (probably applies for other things). I want to reduce this complexity in maintaining/modifying my codes. I want to make things modular and have rules when to start a new class or just append to an existing class (for example). I know that there are frameworks out there (CakePHP, Symfony, Rails) but what if I just want to use my PHP and use a hybrid of my own style and an existing style for good code management?

Answer 1

This is not just pertaining to php, this applies to coding in general. Frameworks will only help you organize your mess but if you are new to programming a framework will only organize your messy code.

Some basic ideas to keep in mind aside from undertaking a undergraduate in computer science (which i recommend if you are serious about coding) is to make your code modular.

For example, and this is a simply example to demonstrate the point. If you have a site that generates an html table containing financial data.

(Here are a few scenarios of how to go about coding this …)

1. You open up a new screen, financialdata.php, you code from line 1 to line N the code needed to get the financial data from a data source (database perhaps) and then iterate over the financial
   data to construct an html table.

2. You open up a new screen, financialData2.php, you code a function at the top which pulls data from yuor data source and returns an object (array maybe) containing the items. You take this return value and generate your table on this financialData2.php page.

3. You open up yet another new screen, financialData3.php, you take your database function from financialData2.php and use it to get your financial Data from yoru source. You code another function to generate an html table based on some arguments passed in as parameters. And lastly in your financialData3.php page you display do the following and your page now has a table containing financial data from your data source.

The lesson here: the more modular your code is the better in a lot of ways. You now have a data base function that can get data, and you have a function that will render a table based on a list of items passed in.

You can now create another page and use these functions in different ways, perhaps your data source function has parameters like table and selection criteria. This way you can use the same data function to get data from different tables based on criteria. You now have a VERY basic data abstraction. (Dont let abstraction scare you aware). An abstraction is nothing more then a simplification of something. In this case we have abstracted away the details of how we get data and let our function getData take care of those details.

Please comment/ask questions and we can discuss further but honestly, I do not think one book or web site can teach programming practice like a BS in CSE can through classroom discussion and hands on practice.