The Grumpy Programmer's Guide To Building Testable PHP Applications

by Chris Hartjes

There are plenty of books that show the aspiring PHP programmer how to use testing tools. But how do you actually build your application in such a way that using the testing tools is easy instead of a constant struggle?

The guide is aimed at helping intermediate level programmers build applications that should be easier to test and hopefully to maintain. If you're a beginning PHP programmer (or beginning programmer for that matter) this guide might be hard to follow. Remember, by buying a Leanpub book you will automatically get notified of any updates if I should happen to add new material or make corrections.

My goal is to show you that it really isn't a lot of extra work to create an application that consists of small modules of code that know how to speak to each other in order to solve larger problems. You'll learn why automated testing can be an essential tool and how your choice of components for your application makes all the difference in your pursuit of releasing bug-free code into production.

Let my programming experiences help you become a better programmer and let you fix problems faster and add new features to your application with confidence.

The guide is broken down into the following sections:

1. Testing Is Good, Testable Applications Are Better
2. Building Testable Applications Is Hard
3. Environmental Consistency
4. Static Code Analysis
5. Decoupling Your Objects Using Dependency Injection
6. Like An Onion, Your Application Has Layers
7. Shells and Sandboxes
8. Rebuilding Your Programming and Deployment Environments
9. Continuous Integration Landscape for PHP Developers
10. Where Are The Tests?
11. Advice From A Grumpy Programmer

60 pages of pragmatic but opinionated advice about how to build and test your PHP applications.

If you run a PHP user's group please contact me via email at chartjes@littlehart.net and I will provide you with a free copy to give away at your next meeting.

For more details about the book please visit http://grumpy-testing.com

Genres: Programming

60 pages, ebook

First published March 28, 2012

Reviews

[Scott · Rating 2 out of 5]

Was looking for more of a guide and less philosophy about testing. First 50% of book was a great "how to" with examples reference of initial basic testing theory. Second half was a re-hash of blog posts that go more into philosophical why instead of how. Wish the second half was more of the first. Maybe a 1 hour read.

[Antonio · Rating 3 out of 5]

Concise if limiting in coverage of what it takes to make code testable. The author knows his trade and it shows in the few gems that are in the book. Unfortunately they tend to be wrapped up in a meandering of filler.

[Zach May · Rating 4 out of 5]

A pretty good introduction to automated testing and related design principles, focusing on the PHP ecosystem specifically. Does a good job of explaining WHY you want automated testing and HOW you can make it happen in PHP systems. Couldn't ask for much more.

[Boyan · Rating 5 out of 5]

I can't say enough good things about this book.
It's simple, yet rich in terms of content. It covers almost everything you'll need to be able to take the next step towards testing more in your PHP development.

[Aleksej · Rating 3 out of 5]

I can't even name this book a book, because it is too small to be a great manual about unit-testing. But it's not bad introduction to the world of the testable code. It covers basic concepts you should know to read more complex books about testing.

[Bruno Skvorc · Rating 1 out of 5]

Not a fan.

Full review here: https://www.sitepoint.com/grumpy-prog...

[Robert · Rating 3 out of 5]

A good high level introduction to the world of PHP testing and continuous integration. I look forward to reading the author's other books.