Since the first release of WordPress in 2003, a lot of things have changed. Perhaps the most directly significant change has occurred within the main language in which WordPress is written – PHP. The developments that PHP has gone through since 2003 would make it unrecognisable to many of those who worked with it back then. In 2004, PHP 5 introduced the beginning of proper support for object-oriented programming. The subsequent releases have added many new features to the language, and WordPress has steadily moved along with these developments.

WordPress today is like a living museum of different ways of writing PHP. This means that it can be difficult to understand the best way of writing code for your plugins, themes and extensions. Nevertheless, a “best practice” approach has emerged. It can sometimes be difficult to understand where this approach comes from, and the best way to apply it to your own projects.

In this talk, Jack will do his best to introduce you to the key principles within PHP that drive both the development of WordPress core, and many of the most widely used and well-regarded plugins.

Presentation Slides »