The popularity of PHP is obviously known. Going by the market demand, this server-side scripting language that is used in web development is the most desired programming language. It is estimated that PHP was installed on 39% of the websites. This proves the point that PHP is the most preferred language among the web development community.
"To err is human..." goes the adage. True to that, in the course of coding, it is common that most PHP developers, at times even ninjas, commit some easily avoidable blunders, be it basic or complex ones.
The many frameworks in PHP have only made the language more sophisticated, further increasing the chances of making mistakes. Avoiding these mistakes is, however, important, and will help you to speed up your development process.
Failing to use Database Caching
Are you using a database in the PHP application? If so, ensure that you use some kind of database caching. Memcached, which is free, has now become the famous caching system. Use of Memcached will also contribute to the performance of the database.
Use of incorrect Comparison Operator
Combining comparison operators in the code is definitely not so good practice. It is necessary to be very familiar with operators like =, = =, !=. These are a few operators which are misused, and knowing them better will drastically enhance the programming speed. Also, you do not have to spend too much time on debugging if the operators are understood better.
Continuing the use of MySQL Extension
MySQL extension is not reliable and is insecure. It also misses on few modern MYSQL features and even doesn't support SSL. Surprisingly, many developers still continue to opt mysql extension. Having said that, it is now time for you to opt for MYSQLi.
Not using PHP Data Objects
MySQLi may be ahead of MySQL extensions. It is certainly fast, reliable and secure, but is MySQL specific. So, it will be instead better to use PDO. Doing so allows you to use object-oriented syntax. It will also make you ready for the SQL databases.
Apart from that, PDO enables using of named parameters. Moreover, it would save a lot of time by allowing you to inject the fetched data into new object.
Failing to rewrite URLs
Rewriting of URLs is very important. Having a URL full of variables will not be easy to memorize the URL. And so is not acceptable to today's needs. Hence, the URL has to be clean, easy to read and easy to remember. Make use of the guide that is offered by frameworks like Laravel, Symfony, Zend, Phalcon in setting up clean URLs.
Conclusion
PHP web development will continue to gain popularity even in the coming days and there can be no doubt about that. Coding on a language like PHP will surely be a breeze if some of the commonly made mistakes are avoided.