Thanks for taking the time to contribute. Please read this guide to better understand the project.
This project is written in PHP, a language that is known for it's spooky behaviour at runtime. To combat this, we enforce much stricter rules than you typically find in PHP projects.
The project follows PSR-1: Basic Coding Standard, PSR-2: Coding Style Guide and PSR-4: Improved Autoloading.
PHPStan is a static code analysis tool, that is able to find errors without running the code.
PHPStan moves PHP closer to compiled languages in the sense that the correctness of each line of the code can be checked before you run the actual line.
PHP has loose dynamic typing and type coercion. This is a reminisce from the past, and should be avoided.
The project also uses PHPStan to deduct variable types and verify correct use. For a overview of the rules, please see PHPStan strict rules.
Arithmetic and loose comparison operators, may only be be used on numeric values (int, float). This rule applies to
-, *, /, **, %, ==, !=, <, >, <=, >= and <=>.
In general use === and !== for comparing two values. To order strings using strcmp.
Using the global state static is strictly prohibited. This includes global I/O functions (echo, print, header),
superglobals ($_GET, $_POST, $_SESSION, etc), and static properties.
Input / output is handled by a PSR-7 compatible HTTP request handler.
The project uses dependency injection with a PSR-11 compatible container to manage services.
PHP extensions are typically a very thin layer over a C library. While this is great for performance, they don't provide the level of abstraction you may expect from a high level language.
Rather than using these functions directly, use an abstraction library that provides a consistent interface, does type checking and throws exceptions.
The project uses the Improved PHP library for rudimentary functions as manipulating strings and arrays.
For dates and timestamps, using CarbonImmutable rather than the native DateTime
objects. Carbon makes it easier to test time related functions. Immutable value objects prevent unexpected side-effects.
Test use the PHPUnit test framework. Source code should have 100% test coverage.
In rare cases, code may be excluded from test coverage using @codeCoverageIgnore. Please include a comment explaining
why the code is excluded.