Do you need to remember all php functions in order to be a good php develpoer?

jwagner

Hi all,

Looking at the huge list of php functions availabe, I would love to know whether in order to be a real good php programmer, do you need to recall 'em all by heart?

I'm sure that in order to be good, you got to remember quite a few of them, but how much? (We should measure that in percentage...)

Thanks all you wonderful guys.

djjjozsi

🙂
how many you know its not matter, but how you can combine them. Its not a poem,
the emphasis is on the mentality.

NogDog

Unless you are somewhere in the 99.99th percentile of memory/recall ability, I cannot imagine anyone being able to memorize all of them. More important is knowing where to find them, and which function categories are most likely to have the function(s) you need. I'd spend a little time looking at string functions and array functions, for example, as there are a lot of them and many can be real time-savers versus rolling your own. Again, you don't need to memorize them, just have an idea that when you need to do certain types of tasks, it's worth skimming through the functions within certain categories to see if there's something there you can use.

wjgilmore

After 12 years of working with PHP I still cannot recall for the life of me even the order of the parameters required to use the explode() function, for instance lol. It's just too much to remember! The two things I do to quickly reference the functions is (1) keep a copy of the PHP reference manual stored on your local computer, and (2) remember that you can easily lookup the PHP functions like this: www.php.net/FUNCTION-NAME. So for instance to learn more about the explode() function, just enter www.php.net/explode.

Hope this helps!

Jason

==
W. Jason Gilmore
http://www.easyphpwebsites.com

jwagner

Hi all, and thanks so much for your input.

So basically you are all saying that remembering all functions by heart is not really necessary, but rather one should know how to find the needed functions.

But what do you do when you look through someone else's code? I'm sure you will find there some functions you have never used, right?

So will you go and check out each and every one of them?

Thanks guys. You are of great help. I really appreciate it.

Weedpacket

Even if you do have preternaturally good memory, there's not that much benefit to memorising the whole list. Because the list changes. Functions are added, and existing functions are extended. Your memory of what used to be there would grow stale ("I didn't know it could do that!") so you'd need to keep checking back now and then to update. Which makes the whole effort of memorising the whole thing redundant.

rikmoncur

http://uk2.php.net/quickref.php

rulian

Remember, at least commercial development, its about efficiency and the final product.
I've seen alot of bad programs (alot of which I've built) still get the job done. So whether you memorize the functions or look them up as you need them, if your program works at the end you did your job.
Do it efficiently with stability and control and you'll be a good developer

jwagner

rulian;10918219 wrote:
Remember, at least commercial development, its about efficiency and the final product.
I've seen alot of bad programs (alot of which I've built) still get the job done. So whether you memorize the functions or look them up as you need them, if your program works at the end you did your job.
Do it efficiently with stability and control and you'll be a good developer

Thanks so much for you input. I really appreciate it very much.