Brain Box is proud to have a highly skilled team of PHP developers who work with our clients to bring websites, software and mobile apps to life with clean, modern code. But what is PHP development, and why should you choose it over other development languages? Read more to learn about the basics of PHP and Brain Box's approach to this popular back-end development language.
What is PHP development?
PHP is a back-end programming language that's used in a wide variety of web and software applications. As opposed to front-end programming languages like HTML, CSS and JavaScript, which control the visual components that a user interacts with, back-end languages like PHP are the men behind the curtain. PHP can be used to empower the behind-the-scenes functionality on a website or app like processing payments, creating new users, managing user data and more.
The history of PHP development
Hypertext Preprocessor – much more commonly known as PHP – is a general purpose programming language that was designed for web development but is now used for all kinds of applications.
PHP originally stood for Personal Home Page when it was created in 1994 by a programmer who was tracking visits to his online resume. Over time, as the language and its capabilities grew well beyond its original intention, the name evolved accordingly.
What can you build through PHP development?
PHP is a highly diverse language, and is also the fourth most widely known back-end development language, after JavaScript, SQL and C# (pronounced "C sharp"). Because of its diverse applications, PHP can be used to build a multitude of programs and platforms, including:
- Marketing websites
- E-commerce platforms
- Business and enterprise software: project management platforms, data visualization tools, content management systems, etc.
- Facebook applications
- WordPress plug-ins
- And much more
What to look for in a PHP developer
At Brain Box, we've curated the most highly qualified group of PHP developers around, selecting team members based on the qualities that pre-determine a quality PHP developer, including:
Commitment to ongoing education
Web and software development is an ever-changing industry, and it requires PHP developers to be in tune with industry trends. The best PHP developers seek continuing education opportunities by attending networking events and conferences, taking online classes, and generally exploring new languages that can be used alongside PHP.
Great communication skills
Development is all about communication. It's a developer's job to translate the problems they're fixing in one language (PHP) into a language project stakeholders can easily understand. PHP developers also use communication to articulate proposed solutions to a problem, helping a team to rally around an approach.
Problem-solving approach
Yes, PHP development is about producing code. But more so, the Brain Box PHP developers are tasked with solving difficult problems for our clients. Developers' days are laden with challenges, and they must know when to make decisions on their own, when to pull in other developers for help, and when to run a decision up the flagpole.
Great team players
Developers never work alone. They're a critical component in a larger team that includes digital strategists, project managers, designers and other project stakeholders. This requires them to have great collaboration skills, a positive attitude and empathy for the other members of the project team.
PHP development best practices
At Brain Box, we have extensive PHP development experience, and have crafted a set of principles with which we approach every PHP development project.
Write maintainable code
Too many PHP development companies write sloppy code that can't be modified in the future by other teams. This is an irresponsible, lazy approach to programming. At Brain Box, we write clean, maintainable code that other developers can easily understand. This means your website, app or software can continue to grow easily because it's built on a workable code base.
Don't code in a silo
If only one developer understands a code base, that's an issue. PHP developers should work together as a team to create a system of checks and balances that ensure the quality of the project is upheld at all times. This also makes it possible for one developer to quickly jump into a project to help -- which is impossible if they're not already familiar with the code.
Write quality documentation
After writing code, developers should comment within the code base to make it easy to onboard new developers. Many developers ignore this responsibility or write poor quality comments, which make it difficult for future developers to write more code or work with existing code. While PHP developers should write quality comments, there's a balance; developers should avoid obvious comments that only muck up a code base.
Why develop with PHP
PHP is one of the most commonly used back-end development languages -- and for good reason. It's easy to use, can interact with many different database languages, and is known for being easy to learn. If you're looking for a programming language that empowers a diverse set of functions and will allow your website or app to easily scale, PHP might be the best language for your project.
Work with Brain Box's PHP developers
Brain Box has worked hard to build an experienced, high-quality team of PHP developers. If you want to work with the best PHP developers around, contact the Brain Box team today to schedule a meeting. We'd love to hear about your development project and how we can help.