Software Engineering in WordPress, PHP, and Backend Development
If you write object-oriented code for WordPress (usually within the context of plugins), you’re likely to come across a class_exists check before initializing a class. But we should start avoiding class_exists in much of our code at this point (with a few exceptions that I’ll outline below).
Depending on the version of PHP you’re using, this makes sense. Or it did at one time. As of PHP 5.3.0, this isn’t necessary. Instead, it’s a better practice to use namespaces.
Let’s say you’re working on a page template and it’s going to include a partial that’s going to display recent custom post types (or maybe even the standard post type) of the post type you’re viewing.
For example, say you’re looking at the example of stories or something like that. And you’re looking at a single page for a given author. Then, perhaps in the sidebar, it reads Read More From Other Authors, and it retrieves stories from up to five other authors.
Where additional custom post types may appear.
Writing a custom WP_Query, pulling back the five most recent posts, and dropping them into the selected area seems easy enough, right?
And it is. But there’s a gotcha.
Though I’m not a fan of strictly using var_dump or echo statements as a way to debug code, that doesn’t mean there aren’t times in which they are useful (otherwise, they wouldn’t be part of the language, right?).
But what if you’re using Laravel Valet (which is easy enough to setup for WordPress) and you’re trying to display some multidimensional array and rather than getting some nicely formatted output, you end up getting one long line of text in Times New Roman? Odds are this is because you don’t have Xdebug.
It’s easy enough to do, but it’s predicated on a few different things. Plus, once you get Xdebug installed, then you’re able to use a debugger with your code, as well. That’s not the point of this post, though.
When I last published, it was all about taking a break from social media and why I think it’s useful.
But I ended up not only doing that. Instead, I also took a break from writing (which save for a recent trip is not something I usually do). When you end up taking that kind of time off from writing, you can’t help but build up a backlog of ideas for content that will eventually find its way to be published.
Before getting back into the usual routine, I thought it worth sharing some upcoming plans I have for the site that will impact those of you who read regularly and those of you who may be new readers or who are just stumbling across this post.
Not too long ago, I took a break from social media for two reasons (one no more important than the other):
(I looked through my previous posts to see if I talked about it at length but couldn’t find it.)
https://twitter.com/tommcfarlin/status/880912831922753536
Anyway, it’s something I’ve decided to do again, although this time I have a few different reasons. Maybe it’s social media breaks are something I’ll do a more on the regular, maybe not. I can’t know that right now.
We’ll see in a month.
Nonetheless, this time I thought it worth sharing a little bit more behind the reasons why if for no other reason to make sure I have it documented more so than I did last time.
Kinsta offers premium managed WordPress hosting for everyone, small or large. Powered by Google Platform and strengthened by Cloudflare, they take performance to the next level. All hosting plans include 24/7/365 support from their team of WordPress engineers. Get started with a free migration today.
If you are looking for WordPress guides and unbiased reviews, I recommend checking out WPKube. They also have an exclusive deals section.
© 2025 Tom McFarlin
Theme by Anders Noren — Up ↑