How to [w]Right Software

For the sake of this discussion I'll use PHP for all examples. If you know the PHP language, that will aid in your understanding of the concepts presented here. However, the concepts are not unique to the PHP language so they can be applied to almost any common programming language.

Organization

This discussion is divided into several sections as described below. I'll provide an index to the major elements of this discussion as well. The sections can be read in any order. You may find that many of the concepts are obvious once you read them. The point here is these are not secrets, but sensible approaches to common problems. That being said, many programmers do not do these things in spite of their apparent obvious nature.

• General
• Variables
• Comments
• Literals
• White Space
• Functions/Methods
• Database Interaction
• Refactoring
• Testing
• Summary

What You Can Expect to Learn

My purpose here is to pass on years of experience in coding. This is not intended to tell you the only way to code. It is instead a means of understanding why I choose to code as I do. Trust me, I’m right. When you pay attention, years of mistakes can be of value.