Book Image

Expert PHP 5 Tools

By : Dirk Merkel
Book Image

Expert PHP 5 Tools

By: Dirk Merkel

Overview of this book

Even if you find writing PHP code easy, writing code that is efficient and easy to maintain and reuse is not so straightforward. Self-taught PHP developers and programmers transitioning from other languages often lack the knowledge to work with PHP on an enterprise level. They need to take their PHP development skills to that level by learning the skills and tools necessary to write maintainable and efficient code.This book will enable you to take your PHP development skills to an enterprise level by teaching you the skills and tools necessary to write maintainable and efficient code. You will learn how to perform activities such as unit testing, enforcing coding standards, automating deployment, and interactive debugging using tools created for PHP developers – all the information in one place. Your code will be more maintainable, efficient, and self-documented.From the design phase to actually deploying the application, you will learn concepts and apply them using the best-of-breed tools available in PHP.Experienced developers looking for expertise in PHP development will learn how to follow best practices within the world of PHP. The book contains many well-documented code samples and recipes that can be used as a starting point for producing quality code.Specifically, you will learn to design an application with UML, code it in Eclipse with PDT, document it with phpDocumentor, debug it interactively with Xdebug, test it by writing PHPUnit tests, manage source code in Subversion, speed up development and increase stability by using Zend Framework, pull everything together using continuous integration, and deploy the application automatically with Phing – all in one book. The author's experience in PHP development enables him to share insights on using enterprise tools, in a clear and friendly way.
Table of Contents (15 chapters)
Expert PHP 5 Tools
Credits
About the Author
About the Reviewers
Preface

Meta-model versus notation versus our approach


When talking about the UML, it is important to distinguish between the meta-model and the notation. The meta-model consists of definitions and descriptions of the various components and their possible relationships. For example, the meta-model describes exactly what is meant by an "association." As PHP developers who are well versed in object-oriented technology, we know intuitively what we mean when we talk about an association between two classes. However, since the UML is a general-purpose modeling language, the specifications have to contain a definition for "associations" that applies to all areas where the UML can be used. Moreover, the definition has to be rigorous enough for the whole interdependent system to make sense. In other words, it needs to be rigorous in a mathematically logical sense.

Although the UML would not be possible without the meta-model, it is the notation in which we as practitioners are really interested. The UML...