Backend development cheat sheet (PHP)

1. 1Modern PHP and Laravel essentialsHow PHP serves requests, the modern language features worth using, and how Laravel wires services and models together.7 concepts

   1. 1The PHP request lifecycleClassic PHP is share-nothing: PHP-FPM boots the app for each request and throws all state away at the end.
   2. 2Modern PHP types, enums and readonlyPHP 8 has typed properties, union types, backed enums, readonly properties and classes, match and constructor property promotion.
   3. 3Composer and autoloadingComposer installs packages from Packagist and generates a PSR-4 autoloader that maps namespaces to folders.
   4. 4Laravel service containerLaravel builds your classes and resolves their constructor dependencies automatically.
   5. 5Eloquent models and relationshipsEloquent is Laravel's Active Record ORM: each model maps to a table, and methods like belongsTo and hasMany define relationships you can query and eager…
   6. 6PHP arrays and collectionsA PHP array is both an ordered list and a key-value map.
   7. 7PHP errors and exceptionsModern PHP throws exceptions for most failures, handled with try, catch and finally.

   7 in this chapterOpen this chapter
2. 2Terminal and GitThe two tools every backend task starts with: moving around a machine in a shell, and keeping every change in version control.3 concepts

   1. 1Terminal essentialsA shell runs commands such as cd, ls, cat, grep and curl, and pipes (|) feed one command's output into the next.
   2. 2Git commits and branchesGit records snapshots of your project as commits.
   3. 3Pull requestsA pull request proposes merging a branch into main and shows the diff, CI results and review comments in one place.

   3 in this chapterOpen this chapter
3. How HTTP worksWhat happens between a client and your server: finding it, connecting securely and exchanging requests and responses.6 conceptsOpens with credits
4. Relational databases and SQLModel data, query it by hand, index it for real queries, keep it consistent with transactions and understand what the ORM does for you.10 conceptsOpens with credits
5. Designing and building APIsTurn the database into a contract other programs rely on: resources, validation, errors, pagination, safe retries, versioning and documentation.10 conceptsOpens with credits
6. Authentication and API securityDecide who is calling and what they may do, store secrets safely and close the holes attackers try first.10 conceptsOpens with credits
7. Caching, queues and performanceMeasure first, then make the service fast: cache the right things, keep slow work out of the request path and use database connections wisely.10 conceptsOpens with credits
8. Testing, CI/CD and deploymentBuild the safety net that lets you change code without fear: tests against a real database, a pipeline on every push and a container you can deploy and roll back.10 conceptsOpens with credits
9. Architecture and reliabilityHow services are split, how they talk and how they fail, and the patterns that keep a system up and traceable when a dependency is slow or down.10 conceptsOpens with credits
10. 10Glossary, A to ZEvery concept in the sheet and the smaller terms it uses, in one list.181 terms

APIs, databases, auth, deploys.