5 ms·

Beautiful PHP

8 points by ooooak 14y ago

benjubb 14y ago
supposed to be ironic right?
- chattamatt 14y ago
  I was wondering the same!
  - Gigablah 14y ago
    Looking at the other articles on the site, I think the poor guy is actually earnest.
- jacquesm 14y ago
  I sure hope so.
Gigablah 14y ago
if ($string == '' || null) return 'massage'; Heh, beginner mistake.
- jacquesm 14y ago
  Two of them, actually.
  - edwinjm 14y ago
    Only two? 1) if ($string == '' || null) can be improved as if (!$string) 2) $string is a poor variable name 3) if and statement on the same line is bad practice (the return can easily be overlooked when browsing through the code 4) Not using { and } is bad practice. 5) 'massage' should probably be 'message' The code improved should be something like: if (!$name) { return 'No name given'; }
    - 1SaltwaterC 14y ago
      Due to the "PHP beauty", ! $string isn't equivalent for $string == ''. In this case it is better due to the logical evaluation clusterfuck that PHP does. Example: passing an empty array() as $string bypasses the if, while ! $string is sane enough, but the bang operator fails with "0" which is a valid string that "happens" to evaluate to false. I know these are edge cases, but can lead to funny bugs. Not so funny for those who debug that.
bradwestness 14y ago
Not exactly sure what the "tips" are in these, most of them just look like cruddy PHP code. In the 2nd part of Example 2, using "else if" instead of several "if" statements to check the same value would result in fewer comparisons having to be done since the way it's written now the second comparison will always run even if the first one was true. It would be even better to use a switch statement if you're comparing the same variable in each case.
- masklinn 14y ago
  > most of them just look like cruddy PHP code. Complete with extra syntax and forgetting your own tips from one example to the next: > return ($string === ""); parens unnecessary: return $string === ""; > $ret = false; > if( time() > $end_time ){ > $ret = true; > } > return $ret; aka return time() > $end_time; > function ($string = null){ > if ($string == '' || null) return 'massage'; pretty sure he meant to say if ($string == '' || $string == null) because there's not point to if (cond || null) since null is falsy, it's the exact same thing as if (cond) > $data = include 'school_data.php'; Oh god, no… > $data_update = $data + array( 'name' => 'surname', 'size' => 40 ); That's not an array update, since it doesn't update the first array. > if(!is_array( $options )) $options = (array)$options; That's absolutely horrible, you've got to know that contrary to what you might expect PHP doesn't convert a sequence of characters (a string) into an array of characters, but essentially does `array($options)` (create a 1-element array with the string). So write that.
jdiez17 14y ago
Hm, yeah, if a poorly written article with this "beautiful PHP" is what's needed to make it to the frontpage of "Hacker News" I think something has gone awfully wrong. Not to mention most of the code is absolutely horrible and should not be used for anything.
sentiental 14y ago
This seems representative of the PHP community in general. The only thing you need to qualify PHP as being "beautiful" is to apply a few tips on how to iterate over your array. There are many other ways to make PHP beautiful. In fact, you can make object models that are almost as flexible, DRY and elegant as they would be in any other language.
leeoniya 14y ago
posts like this make me wonder how the frontpage curating process works at HN (or doesnt). i've posted things that had more value and upvotes than whatever this is supposed to be and never made it to the front page. (also php-related, mind you) my guess is that someone wants to show how dumb php programmers are by selectively promoting stuff like this. just sad.
SlyShy 14y ago
Challenge to PHP programmers here: can you point me to some actual coding best practices for PHP (besides PHP the Right Way)?
- captn3m0 14y ago
  http://www.codular.com/ http://www.codular.com/ has some good examples. Further, anything from the symphony framework and the composer stuff is quite good. See https://github.com/php-fig/fig-standards https://github.com/php-fig/fig-standards for some of the good work that is happening.
- ayi 14y ago
  http://www.phptherightway.com/ http://www.phptherightway.com/ is a good place to start.
sparkygoblue 14y ago
Ugh. Articles like this make me want to join the PHP sucks crowd, and I really hate the PHP sucks crowd.

Beautiful PHP

8 points by ooooak 14y ago

benjubb 14y ago

supposed to be ironic right?

chattamatt 14y ago
I was wondering the same!
- Gigablah 14y ago
  Looking at the other articles on the site, I think the poor guy is actually earnest.
jacquesm 14y ago
I sure hope so.

Gigablah 14y ago

if ($string == '' || null) return 'massage'; Heh, beginner mistake.

jacquesm 14y ago
Two of them, actually.
- edwinjm 14y ago
  Only two? 1) if ($string == '' || null) can be improved as if (!$string) 2) $string is a poor variable name 3) if and statement on the same line is bad practice (the return can easily be overlooked when browsing through the code 4) Not using { and } is bad practice. 5) 'massage' should probably be 'message' The code improved should be something like: if (!$name) { return 'No name given'; }
  - 1SaltwaterC 14y ago
    Due to the "PHP beauty", ! $string isn't equivalent for $string == ''. In this case it is better due to the logical evaluation clusterfuck that PHP does. Example: passing an empty array() as $string bypasses the if, while ! $string is sane enough, but the bang operator fails with "0" which is a valid string that "happens" to evaluate to false. I know these are edge cases, but can lead to funny bugs. Not so funny for those who debug that.

bradwestness 14y ago

Not exactly sure what the "tips" are in these, most of them just look like cruddy PHP code. In the 2nd part of Example 2, using "else if" instead of several "if" statements to check the same value would result in fewer comparisons having to be done since the way it's written now the second comparison will always run even if the first one was true. It would be even better to use a switch statement if you're comparing the same variable in each case.

masklinn 14y ago
> most of them just look like cruddy PHP code. Complete with extra syntax and forgetting your own tips from one example to the next: > return ($string === ""); parens unnecessary: return $string === ""; > $ret = false; > if( time() > $end_time ){ > $ret = true; > } > return $ret; aka return time() > $end_time; > function ($string = null){ > if ($string == '' || null) return 'massage'; pretty sure he meant to say if ($string == '' || $string == null) because there's not point to if (cond || null) since null is falsy, it's the exact same thing as if (cond) > $data = include 'school_data.php'; Oh god, no… > $data_update = $data + array( 'name' => 'surname', 'size' => 40 ); That's not an array update, since it doesn't update the first array. > if(!is_array( $options )) $options = (array)$options; That's absolutely horrible, you've got to know that contrary to what you might expect PHP doesn't convert a sequence of characters (a string) into an array of characters, but essentially does `array($options)` (create a 1-element array with the string). So write that.

jdiez17 14y ago

Hm, yeah, if a poorly written article with this "beautiful PHP" is what's needed to make it to the frontpage of "Hacker News" I think something has gone awfully wrong. Not to mention most of the code is absolutely horrible and should not be used for anything.

sentiental 14y ago

This seems representative of the PHP community in general. The only thing you need to qualify PHP as being "beautiful" is to apply a few tips on how to iterate over your array. There are many other ways to make PHP beautiful. In fact, you can make object models that are almost as flexible, DRY and elegant as they would be in any other language.

leeoniya 14y ago

posts like this make me wonder how the frontpage curating process works at HN (or doesnt). i've posted things that had more value and upvotes than whatever this is supposed to be and never made it to the front page. (also php-related, mind you) my guess is that someone wants to show how dumb php programmers are by selectively promoting stuff like this. just sad.

SlyShy 14y ago

Challenge to PHP programmers here: can you point me to some actual coding best practices for PHP (besides PHP the Right Way)?

captn3m0 14y ago
http://www.codular.com/ http://www.codular.com/ has some good examples. Further, anything from the symphony framework and the composer stuff is quite good. See https://github.com/php-fig/fig-standards https://github.com/php-fig/fig-standards for some of the good work that is happening.
ayi 14y ago
http://www.phptherightway.com/ http://www.phptherightway.com/ is a good place to start.

sparkygoblue 14y ago

Ugh. Articles like this make me want to join the PHP sucks crowd, and I really hate the PHP sucks crowd.