GL468 · 4 days · 16+ hrs hands-on labs

PHP Fundamentals

Available for RHEL

This hands-on course provides a thorough introduction to PHP programming for web development. Students begin with core language fundamentals, including variables, functions, data types, and control structures, then progress to arrays, variable scope, object basics, and exception handling. Throughout the course, emphasis is placed on developing good programming habits: writing readable code, thinking about security, and building maintainable applications.

The course covers the full web development stack from a PHP perspective. Students learn HTML and CSS fundamentals, template-based separation of concerns, HTTP protocol basics, RESTful design principles, form processing with input validation, cookie management, and session handling. Database topics include SQL fundamentals, relational database concepts, and accessing databases from PHP using PDO with parameterized statements to prevent SQL injection.

Each chapter includes hands-on lab exercises where students write, debug, and refactor PHP code on live systems. With 43 labs spanning reading, modifying, creating, and debugging exercises, students build practical skills at every stage. By the end of the course, students are prepared to build dynamic, database-driven web applications and have a solid foundation for evaluating PHP frameworks and pursuing more advanced web development techniques.

Who Should Attend

Beginning web developers, system administrators looking to add server-side scripting capabilities, and IT professionals who want to learn PHP web programming. No prior PHP experience is required, though basic familiarity with HTML is helpful.

Skills You'll Gain

Write and execute PHP scripts from both the command line and a web server
Define and use variables, constants, and functions to organize code
Manipulate numbers, strings, and arrays using PHP operators and built-in functions
Implement control flow with if statements, switch statements, and loops
Build dynamic web pages by integrating PHP with HTML, CSS, and template systems
Process HTML form data and manage cookies using PHP superglobals
Query and update SQL databases using PDO with parameterized statements
Manage server-side session state for user authentication workflows
Identify and mitigate common web security vulnerabilities including XSS and SQL injection
Apply software development best practices including error handling, refactoring, and separation of concerns
Work with JSON data for lightweight data exchange between PHP and client-side applications

Chapters & Labs

37 labs · 16+ hours hands-on
  1. Introduction 3 labs · 36 min
  2. Variables & Functions 4 labs · 114 min
  3. Numbers & Strings 5 labs · 146 min
  4. Booleans & Branching 7 labs · 160 min
  5. HTML & Templates 3 labs · 60 min
  6. Arrays & Scope 5 labs · 75 min
  7. Looping, Objects, & Exceptions 3 labs · 137 min
  8. Forms & Cookies 6 labs · 133 min
  9. Databases & Sessions 1 lab · 60 min
  10. Next Steps

Prerequisites

Basic familiarity with using a text editor and the Linux command line. Prior exposure to HTML is helpful but not required, as the course includes an HTML fundamentals chapter.