Additions "upfront"

[hakre]

• It's important to write code - not copy paste it. Tell that upfront.
• Enable the user how to write and execute code:
  • Show how to execute on the commandline
  • Give example with and Editor like Gedit or Geany (Linux/Mac/Windows)

[philip]

Lint mode (php -l) is probably worth mentioning here.

[nikic]

@philip There are people using that?

[hakre]

@nikic: Yes in geany you can integrate it so you have it on keypress. It's nice to have.

[nikic]

@hakre IDE detects errors quite well without it too ^^ In any case, I feel like mentioning php -l isn't really necessary in a beginner tutorial :)

[philip]

@nikic If "Show how to execute on the commandline" is written then I imagine this being noted there. I think lint mode is worth mentioning, that is, if CLI usage is documented in this tutorial. It's by far the most used CLI command, at least for me. Well, also -r. Oh, and talk about -r... ;)

[morrisonlevi]

Ideally they'd know how to use xdebug and phpunit, but I don't know if this is the right place for anything CLI related.

[hakre]

For the understanding of what PHP is, I think it is good to show (in a small example), that you can execute PHP code by invoking the PHP binary. So that it shows how it works. Not browser, no server, just a command line.