As someone who started with PHP as a self-described "WordPress hacker", I had a hard time finding the path to becoming a knowledgeable programmer. Having now stumbled a short way up that path, I think we can make it easier for anyone who's interested in finding it. I'll share a brief overview of the tools and concepts I wish I'd known getting started, including why the command line matters, how version control fits with WP, MVC architecture, interfaces/adapters, general PHP tips, etc.

1. The WordPress Hacker’s
Guide to the Galaxy()
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2. @rhodesjason
github.com/jasonrhodes
notrobotic.com
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6. WordPress, as described by various PHP developers
Terrible design buried under a mountain of spaghetti code
Reading through [WordPress code] is like jabbing red-hot fire pokeys into your eyes.
BEHOLD WORDPRESS, DESTROYER OF CPUS
remote shell with cms on side, aka: shit
shit plugins
WordPress is for cat pictures and diary entries.
code is crapcrapcrap
F$%@ THAT F$%@ THAT F$%@ THAT F$%@ THAT F$%@ THAT F$%@ THAT
WordPress is... just adequate
WordPress is for amateurs.
WordPress is... terrifyingly insecure.
No good default caching, it will kill your server if you don’t know what you’re doing
A really terrible database structure
Stack Overflow spam questions
Not a “real” CMS and definitely not a “real” framework
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7. WORDPRESS IS
NOT THE DEVIL
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8. WORDPRESS IS
PHP
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9. WORDPRESS IS
CODE
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10. BETTER CODE
BETTER PHP
BETTER WORDPRESS
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11. THE WP
HACKER’S
GUIDE TO
THE GALAXY
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12. +
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16. THE WP
HACKER’S
GUIDE TO
THE GALAXY
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17. FOLDER STRUCTURE
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18. mysite
/wp-admin
/wp-content
/wp-includes
index.php
wp-config.php
wp-{etc}.php
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19. mysite
index.php
/wp
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20. WP GIANTS: MARK JAQUITH
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24. mysite
/config
/environments
environment-config.php
/public
/content
/wp
index.php
wp-config.php
/vendor
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27. LET’S WRITE SOME
PLUGIN CODE
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29. YES, PLUGINS
(NOT FUNCTIONS.PHP)
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31. MUST USE PLUGINS
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32. content
/plugins
cornify.php
/batcache
/themes
/uploads
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33. content
/mu-plugins
/plugins
cornify.php
/batcache
/themes
/uploads
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35. What’s the difference between
actions and filters?
Filters filter.
Actions (usually) have side effects.
http://wp.smashingmagazine.com/2012/02/16/
inside-wordpress-actions-filters/
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36. CALLABLE
add_action(“action_name”, “function_name”);
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37. array($object, “method_name”)
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38. LET’S USE OOP
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39. WP GIANTS: SCRIBU
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42. LET’S NAMESPACE
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45. MORE GOOD THINGS
‣ Load JS/CSS with enqueue functions
‣ Write tests (PHPUnit and QUnit)
‣ Experiment with WP-CLI
‣ Fun with caching
‣ Use the APIs
‣ Deploy smart
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46. ‣ Database API ‣ Rewrite API
‣ HTTP API ‣ Settings API
‣ File Header API ‣ Shortcode API
‣ Filesystem API ‣ Theme Modification API
‣ Metadata API ‣ Theme Customization API
‣ Options API ‣ Transients API
‣ Plugin API ‣ Widgets API
‣ Quicktags API ‣ XML-RPC WordPress API
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47. mysite
current -> releases/1362181983
/releases
/1362181983
/1362153455
/1362141927
/shared
/config
/files
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50. @rhodesjason
Please rate this talk
https://joind.in/8209
Slides, notes, example code:
http://notrobotic.com/talks/
2013-02-20-wpgalaxy.html
Saturday, March 2, 13