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Hire PHP Developers from Central Europe

Hire senior remote PHP developers with strong technical and communication skills for your project

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PHP Use Cases

  • Web development:

    PHP is particularly well-suited for server-side web development, and is used to create dynamic web pages and web applications.

  • Content management systems (CMS):

    PHP is used to build many popular CMSs, such as WordPress, Joomla, and Drupal.

  • E-commerce platforms:

    PHP can be used to build e-commerce platforms, such as Magento and Shopify, that can handle large numbers of products and process many transactions.

  • CRM systems:

    With PHP it's easy to build enterprise level CRM systems.

  • Custom and bespoke software:

    PHP can be used to build any kind of custom software.

  • Scripting:

    PHP can be used to automate tasks, such as sending email, create PDF documents, scrape website content and many other.

  • Backend:

    PHP is also frequently used as a backend language for web development projects.

  • Embedding into HTML:

    PHP code can be embedded into HTML, making it a popular choice for creating dynamic websites.

Top Skills to Look For in a PHP Developer

  • Strong knowledge of PHP:

    A PHP developer should have a good understanding of the PHP programming language and its features, and be able to write clean, maintainable, and efficient code.

  • Familiarity with web development concepts:

    A PHP developer should be familiar with web development concepts such as HTTP, HTML, CSS, and JavaScript.

  • Knowledge of databases:

    The developer should have experience working with databases, such as MySQL or PostgreSQL, and be familiar with SQL and ORM tools such as Doctrine.

  • Experience with Git and version control:

    A developer should have experience using Git for version control and be able to use common Git commands like committing, branching and merging.

  • Understanding of best practices for security and performance:

    A PHP developer should understand common security issues and best practices for securing web applications and be familiar with techniques for optimizing the performance of a PHP application.

  • Ability to work well with a team:

    PHP developer should be able to work effectively with other developers, designers, and stakeholders in a team environment.

  • Strong analytical and troubleshooting skills:

    A PHP developer should be able to troubleshoot and debug application issues and have strong problem-solving skills.

  • Strong communication skills:

    A PHP developer should have strong communication skills and be able to clearly explain technical concepts to non-technical stakeholders.

  • Experience with PHP frameworks, such as Laravel, CodeIgniter, or Symphony:

    A PHP developer with experience using a PHP framework can help to create more structured and maintainable code, improving overall performance and scalability of the application.

  • Understanding of front-end technologies:

    A good PHP developer should have a good understanding of front-end technologies, such as JavaScript, jQuery, AJAX, and AngularJS, since this will enable them to build responsive, dynamic web pages and web applications.

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PHP Interview Questions

What's the difference between "==" and "===" in PHP?

In PHP, “==” is the equality operator, which checks if the values of two operands are equal or not. If they are, it returns “true”; otherwise, “false”. On the other hand, “===” is the identity operator. It checks both the value and the type of the two operands. It only returns “true” if both the values and their types are identical.

How can you prevent SQL injection in PHP?

The best way to prevent SQL injection is to use prepared statements, either with the “mysqli” extension or the PDO extension. Avoid building SQL queries by concatenating user-input data.

A session is a server-side storage of information, while a cookie is stored on the client’s browser. Sessions are usually used for storing user-specific information, whereas cookies store small pieces of data on the client’s machine, like authentication details.

Explain the concept of Dependency Injection

Dependency Injection (DI) is a design pattern that deals with how components or objects acquire their dependencies. Instead of an object creating its dependencies or using global instances, dependencies are injected into the object, usually via constructor or setter methods.

Describe how Composer helps with package management in PHP

Composer is a dependency manager for PHP. It allows developers to declare the libraries on which their project depends, and it will manage the installation and updating of those libraries for them.

What are the key differences between PHP 5 and PHP 7?

PHP 7 introduced significant performance improvements compared to PHP 5. Some key features include the spaceship operator, null coalescing operator, scalar type declarations, return type declarations, and anonymous classes.

What is PSR and why is it significant?

PSR stands for PHP Standard Recommendation. It is a set of coding standards established by the PHP-FIG to standardize the way developers code in PHP, promoting consistency and interoperability of shared PHP code.

Explain the "yield" keyword in PHP

“yield” is used in PHP to create a generator. Generators are a way to build iterators without implementing the “Iterator” interface. It’s a more memory-efficient way to handle large datasets, as it doesn’t require loading the entire dataset into memory.

Describe late static binding in PHP

Late static binding is a feature introduced in PHP 5.3.0, allowing developers to reference the called class in a context of static inheritance. It’s achieved using the “static::” keyword.

What's the difference between "include", "require", "include_once", and "require_once"?

Both “include” and “require” are used to include files in another PHP file. The difference is, “require” will produce a fatal error if the file doesn’t exist, while “include” will produce a warning. The “_once” variants (“include_once” and “require_once”) ensure the file is included only once.

Explain the difference between abstract classes and interfaces

An abstract class can have both abstract (without implementation) and non-abstract methods, whereas an interface can only have abstract methods. A class can implement multiple interfaces but can only inherit from one abstract class.

How can you increase the execution time of a PHP script?

You can increase the execution time of a PHP script using the “set_time_limit($seconds)” function. By default, the maximum execution time for PHP scripts is set to 30 seconds.

Explain namespacing in PHP

Namespaces are designed to encapsulate items so that they can be used without conflicts. It’s primarily used to organize code and avoid name collisions between classes, functions, or constants in large applications or when using third-party libraries.

What is type hinting and why would you use it?

Type hinting allows developers to specify the expected type for function arguments. Introduced in PHP 5, it enhances the readability and robustness of code by making sure functions are called with the right type of parameters.

Describe the concept of Traits in PHP

Traits were introduced in PHP 5.4. They allow for horizontal composition of behavior. Traits are a mechanism to reuse code in single inheritance languages like PHP. They help in reducing code duplication and provide a way to add methods to classes in a consistent manner.

How do you handle sessions and cookies in PHP?

In PHP, handling sessions and cookies is essential for managing user authentication, maintaining user data across requests, and tracking user interactions. Here’s how you can handle sessions and cookies in PHP:

 

Handling Sessions:

 

1.Starting a Session:

   – To start a session in PHP, you typically use the “session_start()” function at the beginning of your script. This function initializes or resumes a session and makes session variables available for use.

 

   “””php

   <?php

   session_start();

   // Now you can use session variables

   “””

 

2.Storing Session Data:

   – You can store data in session variables using the “$_SESSION” superglobal array. For example, to store a user’s name:

 

   “””php

   $_SESSION[‘username’] = ‘JohnDoe’;

   “””

 

3.Retrieving Session Data:

   – To retrieve session data, simply access the “$_SESSION” array:

 

   “””php

   $username = $_SESSION[‘username’];

   “””

 

4.Destroying a Session:

   – To end a user’s session, use the “session_destroy()” function. This removes all session data and effectively logs the user out.

 

   “””php

   session_destroy();

   “””

 

Handling Cookies:

 

1.Setting Cookies:

   – To set a cookie in PHP, use the “setcookie()” function. It typically takes a few parameters like the cookie name, value, expiration time, and path.

 

   “””php

   setcookie(‘user’, ‘JohnDoe’, time() + 3600, ‘/’);

   “””

 

   – In the example above, a cookie named ‘user’ is set with the value ‘JohnDoe’, an expiration time of one hour from the current time, and it’s available for all paths on the domain.

 

2.Retrieving Cookies:

   – To retrieve cookies, you can use the “$_COOKIE” superglobal array. For example:

 

   “””php

   $user = $_COOKIE[‘user’];

   “””

 

3.Updating Cookies:

   – To update a cookie, simply set it again with the new value using the “setcookie()” function.

 

   “””php

   setcookie(‘user’, ‘JaneDoe’, time() + 3600, ‘/’);

   “””

 

4.Deleting Cookies:

   – To delete a cookie, set it with an expiration time in the past. This effectively removes the cookie from the user’s browser.

 

   “””php

   setcookie(‘user’, ”, time() – 3600, ‘/’);

   “””

 

Remember that sessions are stored on the server, and session data is not exposed to the client (except for the session ID, typically stored in a cookie). Cookies, on the other hand, are stored on the client’s browser and can be manipulated by the user.

 

When handling sensitive information like user authentication or authorization, it’s crucial to follow security best practices, such as encrypting data in cookies and properly validating and sanitizing session data to prevent security vulnerabilities like session fixation or session hijacking.

Can you walk us through the process of creating a simple CRUD (create, read, update, delete) application using PHP and a database?

This will be a basic overview to get you started, and you can then extend and refine the code to suit your specific requirements.

 

1.Database Setup:

 

First, let’s create a MySQL database:

 

“””sql

CREATE DATABASE crud_db;

 

USE crud_db;

 

CREATE TABLE items (

    id INT(6) UNSIGNED AUTO_INCREMENT PRIMARY KEY,

    name VARCHAR(30) NOT NULL,

    description TEXT

);

“””

 

2.Database Connection:

 

Create a file named “config.php” to establish a connection to your database:

 

“””php

<?php

 

$server = “localhost”;

$username = “root”;

$password = “”;

$database = “crud_db”;

 

$conn = new mysqli($server, $username, $password, $database);

 

if ($conn->connect_error) {

    die(“Connection failed: ” . $conn->connect_error);

}

 

?>

“””

 

3.CRUD Operations:

 

  1. Create (INSERT):

 

In “create.php”:

 

“””php

<?php

include ‘config.php’;

 

if (isset($_POST[‘submit’])) {

    $name = $_POST[‘name’];

    $description = $_POST[‘description’];

 

    $sql = “INSERT INTO items (name, description) VALUES (‘$name’, ‘$description’)”;

    $conn->query($sql);

}

 

?>

 

<form action=”create.php” method=”post”>

    Name: <input type=”text” name=”name”>

    Description: <textarea name=”description”></textarea>

    <input type=”submit” name=”submit” value=”Add Item”>

</form>

“””

 

  1. Read (SELECT):

 

In “read.php”:

 

“””php

<?php

include ‘config.php’;

 

$sql = “SELECT * FROM items”;

$result = $conn->query($sql);

 

while($row = $result->fetch_assoc()) {

    echo “id: ” . $row[“id”]. ” – Name: ” . $row[“name”]. ” – Description: ” . $row[“description”]. “<br>”;

}

?>

 

“””

 

  1. Update (UPDATE):

 

In “update.php”:

 

“””php

<?php

include ‘config.php’;

 

if (isset($_POST[‘submit’])) {

    $id = $_POST[‘id’];

    $name = $_POST[‘name’];

    $description = $_POST[‘description’];

 

    $sql = “UPDATE items SET name=’$name’, description=’$description’ WHERE id=$id”;

    $conn->query($sql);

}

 

$id = $_GET[‘id’];

$item = $conn->query(“SELECT * FROM items WHERE id=$id”)->fetch_assoc();

 

?>

 

<form action=”update.php” method=”post”>

    <input type=”hidden” name=”id” value=”<?php echo $item[‘id’]; ?>”>

    Name: <input type=”text” name=”name” value=”<?php echo $item[‘name’]; ?>”>

    Description: <textarea name=”description”><?php echo $item[‘description’]; ?></textarea>

    <input type=”submit” name=”submit” value=”Update Item”>

</form>

“””

 

  1. Delete (DELETE):

 

In “delete.php”:

 

“””php

<?php

include ‘config.php’;

 

$id = $_GET[‘id’];

 

$sql = “DELETE FROM items WHERE id=$id”;

$conn->query($sql);

 

header(‘Location: read.php’); // Redirect to the read page

?>

“””

 

4.Enhancements:

 

– Use prepared statements or a PHP data access abstraction library like PDO to safeguard against SQL injection.

– Implement a frontend framework or templating engine (like Twig) for better UI and code organization.

– Consider adding error handling, success messages, and other feedback mechanisms.

– Add pagination to the read operation if dealing with many records.

– Implement user authentication and authorization for added security.