Notes on PHP, Drupal, Laravel, React, and Next.js development.
Jun 2026
The PHP security fundamentals that actually stop real-world attacks: prepared statements for SQL injection, output-context escaping for XSS, CSRF tokens, proper password hashing, safe file upload handling, and keeping dependencies patched.
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PSR-4 vs classmap vs 'files' autoloading in Composer, dev-only autoload mappings, production autoloader optimization flags (-o, --classmap-authoritative), and why 'class not found' resurfaces after adding new classes.
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PHP vs Node.js compared honestly: execution model differences (shared-nothing vs event loop), where each still wins in 2026, performance realities versus benchmark hype, and a practical decision framework rather than a popularity verdict.
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Every real cause of PHP's 'Class not found' error — stale Composer autoload cache, missing use statements, PSR-4 namespace/folder mismatches, files outside any autoload map, Linux case sensitivity, and stale opcache — plus a systematic way to diagnose it.
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Six PHP design patterns that actually earn their keep in real codebases — Singleton, Factory, Strategy, Repository, Observer, and Decorator — with working code and honest guidance on when each is worth the complexity versus over-engineering.
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Setting up Xdebug 3 with VS Code end to end: php.ini config, the PHP Debug extension, launch.json, debugging inside Docker/DDEV and WSL specifically, conditional breakpoints and logpoints, and the connection issues people actually hit.
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