Master PHP 8 REST API Development: Build Modern APIs from Scratch

In this section, you'll lay the groundwork for your PHP API journey. Learn the importance of PHP in modern web development, delve into the future of PHP and its role in 2025 and beyond, and understand the power of JWT tokens for secure API authentication.

This section also explores the essential concepts of RESTful APIs, including HTTP methods and status codes, and how to use them to craft a well-structured API. You'll become familiar with essential tools like Composer and API clients like Insomnia or Postman, preparing you for practical API development.

Get hands-on! This section takes you step-by-step through the creation of your backend API, using the latest PHP 8 features. You'll learn to set up your development environment, create your first files and endpoints, and utilize the power of Composer to manage your project's dependencies.

We'll dive into implementing user classes, creating routes, and handling HTTP requests and responses. You'll master essential techniques like payload validation, error handling, and generating unique IDs.

Explore the elegance of `match` and `enum` in PHP 8.0 and 8.1 for robust and expressive code. You'll learn to secure your code using the PHP 8.1 `hash_password` function, ensuring secure user credentials.

This section is packed with practical examples and real-world scenarios, providing you with a strong foundation in backend API construction. You'll also learn to manage your code effectively using Git, ensuring seamless version control and collaboration.

To bring your PHP API to life, you need a development environment. This section guides you through the process of setting up a local Apache server, a crucial step in testing and running your API. Learn to create a robust local environment that mirrors the real-world deployment environment, enabling you to develop and test your API with confidence.

In this section, you'll delve deeper into advanced API development concepts, applying best practices to ensure scalability and robustness. We'll explore how to create beautiful and user-friendly URLs through Apache URL rewriting techniques.

Master RedBeanPHP, a powerful ORM that simplifies database interactions, making your API more efficient and flexible. You'll learn to secure your RedBeanPHP implementation and effectively handle exceptions to enhance user experience.

This section covers important topics like retrieving and managing user data, creating food items, implementing secure password handling, and building a robust login system. You'll also dive into essential techniques like storing JWT tokens in the database to maintain user sessions securely.

Throughout this section, you'll learn to write clean, self-documenting code, adopting best practices for maintainability and scalability, preparing you for real-world development challenges.

Write bug-free code with confidence! This section introduces you to unit testing, a crucial aspect of software development. You'll learn to set up and configure PHPUnit, a popular testing framework for PHP, and write comprehensive unit tests for your API's user and food item entities.

Learn to integrate your unit tests into a continuous integration (CI) pipeline using GitHub workflows, ensuring your code stays reliable and free of bugs. This section also explores various PHP unit testing libraries, equipping you with the knowledge to choose the best tools for your needs.

While this course focuses on backend API development, we'll touch upon the frontend world. This section explores the next steps in creating a complete web application by combining your backend API with a frontend. You'll gain a high-level understanding of how to integrate your API with a client-side application and build a fully functional web application.

This section presents a clear architecture diagram outlining the interaction between your backend API and a potential frontend, providing a valuable framework for future development.

This section explores additional techniques to enhance your API's functionality and performance. You'll learn to seamlessly include all your project files using Composer, a powerful package manager that simplifies dependency management.

Gain access to the complete source code for all the projects developed in this course! This section provides you with the final source code, ready to be used and modified. Learn how to upload your project to a GitHub repository, enabling you to share your work, collaborate with others, and showcase your skills.

This section concludes your PHP API development journey with valuable resources and information to propel you forward. Explore external resources and online sandboxes for practicing PHP 8.2.

Discover the essential tools used for efficient development on macOS, and learn about a bonus lecture to deepen your knowledge and explore additional concepts.

By the end of this course, you'll have a solid foundation in PHP 8 REST API development, ready to tackle complex API projects and build a successful career in backend development.