PHP Architect logo

Want to check out an issue? Sign up to receive a special offer.

Wanted: PHP Developers

January 2026

Each new year brings with it hopes and dreams of what will be…maybe a new workout routine, starting a new hobby, reading more often, or writing cleaner code – all worthy endeavors. The January edition of PHP Architect promises to help you achieve your goals; okay, we can’t actually help with all of them, but we can definitely help with the last couple. (Shameless plug incoming) We are currently gearing up for PHP Tek26, preparing all the amazing content to help you achieve at least a few of those New Year’s goals. If you haven’t already, check out the list of speakers at phptek.io to learn more and join us.

PHP-FIG – What’s Below the Water Keeps Us Afloat

By Scott Keck-Warren

I love to use analogies, and one of the analogies I particularly enjoy using about the PHP community is the iceberg analogy. Icebergs are interesting because only 10% of the icebergs are above the waterline, with the remaining 90% being below. It’s like that in the PHP community because most developers just see the part of the iceberg that’s above water. Things like the core language, the libraries, frameworks, and CMSs that power the web are part of this visible piece, but there’s a lot of it that’s hidden from them that make sure these pieces stay afloat. by Scott Keck-Warren

From Downtime to Uptime: Building Resilient PHP Apps – Part II

By Wendell Adriel

In Part I of this article, we started to learn why **High Availability** is important and also started to get into the mindset that’s needed for a team to evolve a “simple” application into an **HA** one. In this part, we will continue our journey, diving into more concepts and how to apply them to our applications, turning them into resilient PHP applications. by Wendell Adriel

Basic Algorithms: Sorting and Searching in PHP

By Christopher Miller

Now that we’ve gotten our feet wet with linear algebra, it’s time to talk about algorithms – the step-by-step recipes that computers follow to get things done. And before you start wondering why we’re talking about algorithms in a machine learning series, trust me, this stuff is the bread and butter of how computers actually process data efficiently. by Christopher Miller

Barrier Analysis

By Edward Barnard

Barriers become points of leverage when you look at them from a different point of view. I discovered a problem with the current “LLM Patterns” column design – I was planning to wait too long to produce the payoff (as code). That payoff comes this month. This month’s payoff then becomes the point of leverage for next and future months. by Edward Barnard

Grumpy Testing Patterns – Test Automation Frameworks

By Chris Hartjes

Hello friends, welcome to another Yelling At Clouds column. In 2026, I am concentrating on sharing my thoughts on the use of patterns to help you get better at testing. Since I wrote my last book, my approach to how I teach and help folks get better at testing their PHP code has changed. I’ve moved past the evangelism phase to helping people who want to get better at testing. by Chris Hartjes

When You Invite the Attackers Inside

By Eric Mann

I remember the moment I realized how much trust I was placing in strangers. by Eric Mann

Paying Down Technical Debt

By Oscar Merida

Building a new software project often starts with a sprint of pure features. We’ve successfully built a functional client for the Spacetraders.io game, but as the functionality grows, we’ve incurred a hidden cost – technical debt. We must pay down this debt as part of regular maintenance, to keep our Spacetraders client—or any PHP project—healthy. Let’s look at three practices for doing so – keeping dependencies current, reducing code complexity, and maintaining a well-organized codebase. by Oscar Merida

Future of Accessibility

By Maxwell Ivey

by Maxwell Ivey

The World Needs Web Developers

By Hunter Yeago

The Internet is one of the most impactful pieces of infrastructure ever created. by Hunter Yeago

Understanding PHP Classes Visibility, Constructors, and Modern Features

By Marian Pop

Classes are everywhere in modern PHP. You use them constantly, extending controllers, creating models, and building services. But there’s a difference between using classes and understanding them. When should a method be private versus public? What does `final` actually prevent? Why would you use `readonly`? These decisions shape how maintainable your code becomes. by Marian Pop

Leave a comment

Use the form below to leave a comment:

Our Partners

Collaborating with industry leaders to bring you the best PHP resources and expertise