What are the pitfalls to avoid with this new version of PHP and its new functionalities? As my previous article on PHP 7 scalar and return types pitfalls, instead of describing the new super cool features of this perfect PHP 7.2, I will describe what can be dangerous for the good health of your application. As Ward Cunningham stated it: “You know you are working on clean code when each routine you read turns out to be pretty much what you expected.

Can developers survive without a good search in their editor? Who has never used the famous find and replace trick in one or multiple files? Nobody indeed. The good new is: Vim search features are pure awesomeness. With a minimum of configuration, you can search whatever you want, wherever you want, at light speed. We’ll see in this article how to: Search in the current file. Search in multiple files. Find and replace everything you dream of.

I had a dream! This dream was to write an article with a title beginning by “10 tips to…”. I don’t normally like them so much (yes, they are often pure clickbait) but let’s face it, humans like lists. That’s why we have the ul tag in HTML. You are a web developer and you want to improve? Improvement is indeed something you should have in mind: it will make your work much more enjoyable and your boss happier.

Note If you want to build a complete Mouseless Development Environment, you might be interested by this book. I can see you spitting your cereals in front of you computer. “What? A PHP IDE with Vim? Are you insane?” Am I? It’s definitely possible to make a very powerful IDE with Vim: you need to know what plugins to install and what are their purposes. The list of plugins I propose here will cover most of your needs: project management, autocompletion, PHPDoc generation, powerful search and replace tools, debugger… all these features will be at your fingertips, for free.

Once upon a time, PhpStorm was the IDE I loved. I thought I would use it all my life, happily without looking at any other editor. I was wrong. I discovered the true love of my live, called Vim. Are you confused? Are you yelling “why” to the deaf sky? What happened between PhpStorm and me? Why a PHP developer would use this… old smelly thing called Vim? I was happy with PhpStorm.