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What Are Programming Side Effects, Anyway?

July 26, 2017 / Tom / 0 Comments

Whenever we talk about certain programming concepts, I think it’s important to take a step back out of whatever specifics we’re discussing and look at things in the context of the bigger picture.

Some modules introduce side effects; some don’t. It’s okay.

For example, yesterday I briefly touched on the idea of programming side effects, but I did so when talking about using PSRs. And for those who are simply interested in aspects of programming in a more general sense, it’s important to understand them, too.

Remember, the idea of side effects as stated in PSR-1 is:

A file SHOULD declare new symbols (classes, functions, constants, etc.) and cause no other side effects, or it SHOULD execute logic with side effects, but SHOULD NOT do both.

In this post, I’m not so interested in discussing logic with side effects (because there are times where side effects will happen). Instead, I’m more concerned with understanding programming side effects (what they are, what to avoid, and so on).

After all, talking about side effects in one context may mean one thing whereas, in programming, it may mean another.

Basic Coding Standards via PSR-1

July 25, 2017 / Tom / 0 Comments

Yesterday, I talked briefly about a rationale for using PSRs versus the WordPress Coding Standards and the when and why of both. But that doesn’t mean it’s not without its points of confusion especially if you’re just starting with them, right?

By that, I mean: Say you’ve been working with the WordPress Coding Standards for years (because I can relate) and now there’s this whole new set of rules and guidelines to follow. But it’s not like a simple matter of changing some white space and renaming files.

There are other points to follow, and each is outlined in a number, quite literally (PSR-1, PSR-2, and so on), of how something should work.

So when it comes to just the basic coding standards as outlined in PSR-1, what are some problematic areas that we may encounter as WordPress developers?

Using the PSRs (Versus the WordPress Coding Standards)

July 24, 2017 / Tom / 0 Comments

At this point, I don’t know how many articles I’ve written about the importance of the WordPress Coding Standards (enough to link to them here, here, and here, I guess, which counts for something).

But after doing enough projects for clients and working with developers who are far smarter and familiar with advanced tooling than I am, I’m at a place where I’m opting to start using PSRs in WordPress WordPress development.

Using PSRs in WordPress Development

Oh the drama, right?

Seriously, though. There are reasons for this, and there are times in which I think the WordPress Coding Standards should still be used, but I’m quickly becoming more convinced that building any modern project on top of WordPress should use more modern PHP tools (which I’ll briefly mention later).

Tonik WordPress Starter Theme: Modern WordPress Theme Development

July 21, 2017 / Tom / 0 Comments

When it comes to working with WordPress plugins, it’s not uncommon to see people using more modern tools such as Composer, front-end dependency management via tools such as Node, and so on.

In fact, I’d say the most popular is probably the Sage project from the Roots team. It’s great, but recently some friends and I stumbled across the Tonik WordPress Starter Theme, and I had the pleasure of talking with the lead of the project, Patryk.

So for those of you who are interested in more modern workflows, tools, and strategies and employing them within the context of theme development, I think Tonik is worth checking out.

It didn’t take me long to get an instance of the theme spun up on my local machine. But the point of this isn’t about my experience with it – it’s why I think it’s worth checking out.

Avoiding class_exists in Object-Oriented WordPress Code

July 20, 2017 / Tom / 0 Comments

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).

Avoiding class_exists

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.

Tom McFarlin

What Are Programming Side Effects, Anyway?

Basic Coding Standards via PSR-1

Using the PSRs (Versus the WordPress Coding Standards)

Tonik WordPress Starter Theme: Modern WordPress Theme Development

Avoiding class_exists in Object-Oriented WordPress Code