With PHP being widely accepted, finding script or a snippet that will help you get exactly what you want is probably easy but there are no fixed do’s and don’ts as to what determines high-grade PHP script.
However, there are certain principles or best practices that one can adopt, and is usually followed by the masters of PHP scripting themselves:
#1: Use PHP sparingly or only when necessary
When PHP was created, it wasn’t supposed to be used for everything related to the web but just for fixing web development problems, in particular. It’s really just another tool in your toolbox that has just as many limitations as other languages do.
According to experts, this ‘tool’ is best used as the front-end scripting language for the Web instead of being used everywhere as a general purpose language.
#2: Use a PHP Framework
According to a prominent web developer, Josh Sharp, it is advisable to use a PHP framework such as Code Igniter, CakePHP and Zend so as to avoid mistakes and save time as well. Reason being: with PHP being very easy to learn and use, it’s just as likely that people would write bad code – thanks to a limited amount of restrictions on the structure of the code.
#3: Don’t trust your users
Another prominent developer by the name of Dave Child says that in order to write secure code in PHP, you should never trust your users to the extent that you make the assumption that every piece of data that your site collects has malicious code. This, according to him, is the most important aspect of writing PHP code that is secure.