What you'll learn

How to write clean code in PHP
Why it's important to keep functions small
How to name variables, functions and classes
How many parameters a functions should have
How clean code affected MVC
How to beautify predicates
Why comments are bad and when you can use them
The difference between an OOP object and a Data Structure Object
Why composition is good and inheritance is bad
What are the symptoms of bad code
What state is and why it's important
Why your code should have low coupling and high cohesion
How to avoid spaghetti code
What are Command and Query separation, Tell Don't Ask and The Law of Demeter
How over-engineering is not a solution to bad code

Course content

5 sections • 26 lectures • 1h 55m total length

Clean code: From Art to Science2:48
In this video I explain what clean code is and how I started to be interested in it.
What people say4:39
In episode 2 of the Clean Code course I talk about what people say related to clean code.
Looking at some code2:38
In this video I take a look at samples of code: some bad code and some good/clean code.
Empathy3:12
In this episode I talk about why empathy is important for clean code.
I also recommend to check out what Robert C. Martin (Uncle Bob) has in the area of clean code.

Small functions are easy to understand18:15
In this episode I start talking about the advantages of small functions with the first one: they are easy to understand.
It's a bit of a longer episode because i go through more code than usual.
More advantages of small functions7:20
In this episode I talk about the other advantages of small functions.
Besides being easy to understand they are easy to:
Maintain
Debug
Reuse
Test
Keep bug free
They help you avoid code repetition
They beautify code
They separate concepts into their levels of abstraction
How many lines should a small function have3:34
In this episode I talk about what size a function and a class should have.
What does small mean.
What does one thing mean.
What to do when your function is too big.
Single Responsibility Principle1:33
In this clean code video I talk about Single Responsibility Principle and how it relates to Small Functions.
Levels of Abstraction - An MVC discussion11:42
In this video I talk about:
- why you shouldn't cross different levels of abstraction
- what levels of abstraction are
- how they are important in MVC frameworks
- what MVC frameworks are
- how small methods shaped how we use MVC
- how new projects make old mistakes

Names - for methods, classes and variables6:39
In this episode I talk about variable and function names.
What parts of speech to use, how long or short they should be, why naming is important and what not to do.
Parameters4:10
In this episode I talk about parameters. How many parameters you should use. Why same type parameters are trickier. Why parameters that change state inside your functions are bad. Boolean and null parameters.
Programming line length1:47
In this episode I talk about how far to the right should a line of code go.
The importance of having the code always start from the same place on the monitor.
C# starting brackets vs java starting brackets.
Beautify predicates1:03
In this lecture I talk about beautify predicates - making the content of an if statement prettier with a function name.
Comments4:13
In this episode I talk about comments.
Why they are bad and should be avoided except for a few cases.
Should I use exceptions?0:32
In this video I talk about exceptions.
You should use unchecked, runtime exceptions.
You should use your own exceptions not the java ones.

OOP Objects vs Data Structure Objects4:20
In this video I talk about the two different types of objects you will find in code, Classical OOP objects and Data structures. How you should treat each of them and how their getters and setter should look like.
Composition Over Inheritance5:16
In this episode I talk about why composition is preferred to inheritance and how I got to understand this.
What signs I saw that inheritance was starting to turn against.
I also talk a bit about the Liskov substitution.
Symptoms of Bad Code2:03
How does a project with bad code manifest?
What are it's symptoms?
Uncle Bob has a great video on article on cleancoders.com about these:
Rigidity
Fragility
Immobility
Viscosity
What is state in programming and why is it important. State and MVC.5:34
In this lecture I talk about what state is, why it is dangerous and why immutable code is valuable.
Also I continue the discussion about state and MVC from an earlier lecture by adding the state element into it.
Low Coupling, High Cohesion7:28
In this lecture I talk about why low coupling, high cohesion is important and why you should always keep it in mind when developing.
I talk about spaghetti code and how you can refactor to avoid high coupling and low cohesion.
Command and Query Separation, Tell Don't Ask and The Law of Demeter4:35
In this lecture I talk about three more programming principles that will help you keep your code clean and avoid spaghetti code.
Test Pyramid and Test Driven Development3:50
In this lecture I talk about the test pyramid;
why unit tests should form the foundation of your tests.
I explain how TDD works and why it's the best way of writing code.
Is over-engineering a solution to bad code? (spoiler: it isn’t)3:02
In this lecture I talk about a case of over-engineering that I have witnessed a couple of times in my career.
Also how in most cases with problematic projects a complex design pattern or an exotic technology is not the solution, but clean code is.
YAGNI1:51
YAGNI - You aren't gonna need it
Project2:03
Create a project using everything I described.

Requirements

You have to know the basics of writing code in PHP

Description

This is a course about useful clean code principles.
My aim is to teach you concepts that you can use every time you write code.

In the last section I also provide a file to put in your AI agent context to help it write more maintainable code.

Clean Code can help you:

- Write better PHP code and thus become a better PHP programmer

- Create easy to maintain projects

- Perform better during interviews by showing knowledge of advanced programming concepts

The course has PHP examples and I sometimes mention things like Symfony and MVC.

The course is structured in 4 parts:

1. Introduction - where we discuss what is clean code and why it's important

2. Small Functions - I gave small functions an entire section because I think its one of the most important principles of clean code, together with small classes, Single Responsibility Principle and Not crossing Different Levels of Abstraction.

3. Clean code: Fundamental Principles - I discuss here about fundamental things like method and variables names, parameters, comments and exceptions

4. Clean code: Advanced Principles - Here I talk about more abstract topics like the difference between an OOP Object and a Data Structure Object, Composition over Inheritance, Symptoms of Bad Code, State, Low Coupling - High Cohesion, Command and Query Separation, Tell Don't Ask, The Law of Demeter, YAGNI and more.

The course also contains some memes because you can't spell clean code without fun.

I tried to focus on things you can use every day when programming and stay away from barren theory.
There's no point wasting our time with useless knowledge that would just seem like it's helping you as a programmer, but that you will forget in 2 weeks.
If that would have been the point, this would be a 10 hours course about programming patterns.
But it isn't.

I tried to make the course full of useful information but not too long.
If you invest as little as two hours of your life in this course, about the time you would spend watching a movie, you will become a much better developer.

Who this course is for:

PHP developers

What you'll learn

Explore related topics

Course content

Introduction4 lectures • 13min

Clean code: Small functions5 lectures • 42min

Clean code: Fundamental principles6 lectures • 18min

Clean code: Advanced principles10 lectures • 40min

Clean Code for AI1 lecture • 1min

Requirements

Description

Who this course is for: