PHP · Basic to Pro

PHP Programming — Full Course

This course takes you from your first echo statement to writing the kind of PHP that powers WordPress itself — namespaces, Composer, traits, and a small working REST API.

Every lesson is written, not filmed: read at your own pace, run the examples with PHP’s built-in server, and use the Back and Forward buttons to move through the course in the order it was designed.

What you will learn

  • Core syntax, variables, and string interpolation
  • Operators, conditionals, and loops
  • Functions, indexed arrays, and associative arrays
  • Handling form submissions safely with superglobals like $_POST
  • Object-oriented PHP: classes, __construct, and $this
  • Connecting to a database safely with PDO and prepared statements
  • Namespaces, Composer, and autoloading
  • Traits and abstract classes
  • Building a small JSON REST API endpoint

Who this is for

No prior programming experience required. Especially useful if you want to understand — or eventually contribute to — the language WordPress and this very site are built on.

Start Course → Continue Where You Left Off →

Lessons

01 Welcome to PHP: The Language Behind WordPress 3 min read 02 Variables, Data Types and String Interpolation 2 min read 03 Operators, Conditionals and Loops 2 min read 04 Functions and Arrays 2 min read 05 Working with Superglobals and Forms 2 min read 06 Object-Oriented PHP: Classes and Objects 2 min read 07 Connecting to a Database with PDO and What’s Next 2 min read 08 Namespaces, Composer and Autoloading 2 min read 09 Traits and Abstract Classes 2 min read 10 Building a Simple REST API 2 min read