PHP Coding Specialist

It is recommended that candidates have at least 150 hours of instruction or hands-on experience with PHP programming language before taking this exam.

This exam validates the candidate’s ability to recognize and write syntactically correct PHP code, use data types supported by PHP, and be able to recognize and write PHP code that will logically solve a given problem.

Candidates should also be familiar with PHP features and capabilities, and understand how to write, debug, and maintain well-formed, well-documented PHP code.

Skills Measured:

1. 1. Basic grammar, variable declarations, data types and literals
   2. PHP operators and expressions
   3. Control flow, loops, iterations, error handling and debugging
   4. Functions in PHP
   5. Classes and objects in PHP
   6. Sessions
   7. Strings, REGEX, Runtime Error Handling and File Resources
   8. Database Access, Design Patterns, PEAR and cURL
   9. Web Services

1. Basic grammar, variable declarations, data types and literals

1. 1. 1. • PHP basics

Introduction to PHP; PHP syntax; PHP file;

1. 1. 1. • PHP variables and variable declaration

Variables; Creating and declaring variables; Variable scope; Global variables; Constants;

1. 1. 1. • PHP data structures and types

PHP Data Types: String, Integer, Float/Double, Boolean, Array, Object, NULL, Resource

1. 1. 1. • PHP literals

Array literals; Boolean literals; Floating-point literals; Numeric literals; Object literals; RegExp literals; String literals

2. PHP operators and expressions

1. 1. 1. • Operator groups

Arithmetic, Assignment, Comparison, Increment/Decrement, Logical, String, Array, Conditional assignment

1. 1. 1. • Expressions

Simple and complex expressions

3. Control flow, loops, iterations, error handling and debugging

1. 1. 1. • Control flow statement

Conditional statement: if…else, switch

1. 1. 1. • Loops and iterations statements

for statement; foreach statement; while statement; do…while statement; continue and break statements

1. 1. 1. • Errors and Exception handling statement

Throwing an Exception; try…catch statement; try…catch…finally statement; The Exception Object;

1. 1. 1. • Debugging

Dumping variables to stdout; Switching error reporting level;

4. Functions in PHP

1. 1. 1. • Built-in Functions

Calling built-in functions

1. 1. 1. • User Defined Functions

Create and call user defined functions; Standard function type; Declaring function type with colon (:)

1. 1. 1. • Function Arguments

Default value arguments; Loosely typed arguments; Strict type arguments;

5. Classes and objects in PHP

1. 1. 1. • Classes

How to create and use class; Class properties and methods; Class types; Interfaces; Namespaces; Traits;

1. 1. 1. • Objects

Object types; Object usage;

6. Sessions

1. 1. 1. • PHP Session Mechanism

7. Strings, REGEX, Runtime Error Handling and File Resources

1. 1. 1. • String Manipulation and Regular Expressions

Syntax; Character Classes; Repetition Quantifiers; Pattern Modifiers;

1. 1. 1. • Manipulating Files with PHP

File system handler; Concept of streams; Retrieving file contents and writing to file;

8. Database Access, Design Patterns, PEAR and cURL

1. 1. 1. • Database Access and Storage
         • Design Patterns

Factory Pattern; Adapter Pattern; Singleton Pattern; Observer Pattern; Decorator Pattern; Dependency Injections;

1. 1. 1. • PHP Extension and Application Repository
         • Client URL

cURL initialization; cURL options for the transfer; cURL session executing; cURL session finish;

9. Web Services

1. 1. 1. • Simple Object Access Protocol

SOAP building blocks and message structure; The SoapClient class

1. 1. 1. • Representational state transfer

RESTful web services; RESTful applications; REST API

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Exam Confirmation and Certification Details 

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The minimum system requirements are:

• Operating system: Windows 7/8/10 OS, MacOS X 10.0x or newer, Linux OS
• Minimum RAM: 1GB or more depending on the Operating System
• Minimum processor: 1.0 Ghz or more depending on the operating system and the architecture
• A color monitor with minimum display resolution: 1366px by 768px
• Internet access
• The latest version of the Chrome browser
• Automatic updates, notifications, other popup windows, and anything that can disrupt the examination process should be disabled