PHP for FE devsFor front-end developers

Notes-style walkthrough of modern PHP - so Laravel or Symfony won't feel like magic later.

You already know programming

This assumes JS/TS comfort. I'll map PHP ideas to what you already use - modules, types, HTTP, async vs request lifecycle.

PHP 8.4+

Strict types, enums, attributes, readonly, match, nullsafe - the language you'll actually meet in 2026 codebases.

Framework runway, not tutorials

No Laravel/Symfony chapters yet. We cover Composer, routing, PDO, security, and the mental models those frameworks sit on.

Who this is for

I've written this as if I'm leaving notes for myself - a front-end person who knows variables, functions, async, modules, and HTTP… but hasn't lived in PHP land.

If you've shipped React/Vue/Svelte (or plain JS) and you want to understand what happens on the server when a form hits /api/login, you're in the right place.

How to follow along

Install PHP 8.4+ and Composer (Setup)
Read chapters in order - later ones assume earlier mental models
Run stuff from examples/ when a chapter points at it
Keep the cheatsheet open once you're past the language core

bash

npm install
npm run docs:dev

And for PHP bits:

bash

php examples/hello/hello.php

What's intentionally missing

Laravel / Symfony tutorials (that's the next adventure)
WordPress
Deep Docker / K8s / devops rabbit holes

We're here for the language + the web primitives frameworks abstract away.

Wish you all the best - hope you're gonna enjoy the ride.

Best,

-- ł.