How no IDE & a single monitor paved the way to my PHP expert certification

Hello, coders! 💻

Today I'd like to talk about how a frugal setup helped me learn core PHP 20 years which made it a lot easier to get my PHP 5 Expert certification later on.
Yes, PHP 5, the most recent version back then. :D
Context

Back in 2002 I was still a student. In one assignment we had to develop a complete product. I decided to have a go at coding a forum engine.
We're talking login/registration forms, forgotten password, My Account page with some settings, threads and replies with creation dates, last updated at and all that you'd expect from a decent forum engine.

Tools used

I decided to not use any framework and start from scratch to better learn PHP.

Since I fancied a challenge I also decided to use Windows Notepad (this was before I switched to Ubuntu).
With Notepad you get:

• no auto completion
• no jump to definition
• no hints

On the other hand you get such a low memory footprint! :D

Set up: a single screen.

This one is probably the most important factor that helped me remember a ton of functions and their parameters.
You go to php.net and look a function up.
You come back to your editor and code.
You switch back to the doc because you forgot param orders.
Repeat.
Rince.
Now you remember it all because that switching is annoying!

RTFM

How many times have you heard that? It's really important to know how to read a documentation.
And not just the method you're interested in but the whole family too.
Are you looking at array_merge? Why not check array_column as well and notice it takes a third param which can help you refactor foreach loops you've been using to index elements by a specific key?

Reading comments users added on the official PHP doc is also a great source of information. Take time to read them (even though some are from older versions).

Certification

To pass the certification you need to know a lot of functions, what they do, their params etc.
Take a look: https://www.testpreptraining.com/tutorial/zend-certified-engineer-sample-questions/

I also had a 5 day training dedicated to preparing developers for the PHP 5 certification. I've learned more about PHP internals (pointers, memory allocation etc).

And then, I passed the exam!

Conclusion

Even though you might not want to be an official expert it's very important to (know how to) read the documentation.

So read your language official doc, then the one of your framework/tool of choice.
Read about aspects of the language you do not use or are not familiar enough with.

Most importantly: have fun and keep on getting better!

PS

It's 2024 and I still use a single monitor (wmctrl FTW)!