WordPress Developer Tools that I use to increase productivity as a WordPress Developer. I gave this talk in WordCamp Kochi 2017

1. Sudar Muthu | @sudarmuthu #WCKochi
Developer Tools to
increase your Productivity
as a WordPress Developer
Sudar Muthu (@sudarmuthu)
http://sudarmuthu.com

2. Sudar Muthu | @sudarmuthu #WCKochi
Me
• Programming in PHP for more than a decade and in
WordPress for about 8 years.
• Big fan of automating process and workflows.
• Contributor to a couple of open source projects
including WordPress.
• Released about 2 dozen plugins in WordPress.
• Remote worker at 10up (and yes 10up is hiring :) )

3. Sudar Muthu | @sudarmuthu #WCKochi
What about you?
• Are you a developer?
• What is your experience with PHP and WordPress?
• What is your typical development environment?
• Do you prefer GUI tools or cli tools?
• What are your expectations out of this talk?

4. Sudar Muthu | @sudarmuthu #WCKochi
IDE

5. Sudar Muthu | @sudarmuthu #WCKochi
https://xkcd.com/378/

6. Sudar Muthu | @sudarmuthu #WCKochi
IDE
• I have used vim extensively and recently moved to
PhpStorm (still use vim mode)
• Move away from generic text editors and prefer an IDE.
• Look for WordPress integration.
• Look for integration with other dev tools that you use
(phpcs, wp-cli etc)
• Look for xDebug support.
• Pick one that you are comfortable with.

7. Sudar Muthu | @sudarmuthu #WCKochi
Demo

8. Sudar Muthu | @sudarmuthu #WCKochi
Local Development
Environment

9. Sudar Muthu | @sudarmuthu #WCKochi
Local Development
Environment
• I use VVV and FlyWheel
• VVV for having a local environment that resembles
production as much as possible using vv.
• I use FlyWheel to quickly create sites with different
PHP versions (especially PHP 5.2)

10. Sudar Muthu | @sudarmuthu #WCKochi
Local Development
Environment
• Pick something where you can easily create new
sites.
• Ability to replicate production environment as
closely as possible will be a plus.
• Don’t ever install PHP directly on Windows.
• Other popular options include Wamp, Xamp etc.

11. Sudar Muthu | @sudarmuthu #WCKochi
xDebug

12. Sudar Muthu | @sudarmuthu #WCKochi
xDebug
• PHP extension that allows you to step through code
for debugging. Very powerful.
• I use it with VVV and PhpStorm.
• Helped me to debug lot of complex problems.
• Use IDE integrations to save time.

13. Sudar Muthu | @sudarmuthu #WCKochi
Demo

14. Sudar Muthu | @sudarmuthu #WCKochi
wp-cli

15. Sudar Muthu | @sudarmuthu #WCKochi
wp-cli
• I use wp-cli extensively for normal day to day
operations. Saves me lot of time.
• wp-cli shell opens an interactive shell. Very handy
to quickly test some logic or read options/transient
etc.
• wp-cli ssh can be used to run commands on a
remote server.

16. Sudar Muthu | @sudarmuthu #WCKochi
Demo

17. Sudar Muthu | @sudarmuthu #WCKochi
PHP CodeSniffer

18. Sudar Muthu | @sudarmuthu #WCKochi
PHP CodeSniffer
• Static code analyser that captures common code
problems.
• Use a custom phpcs standard for your project on
top of WordPress standard.
• Integrate it with your IDE or with git using pre-
commit hook.
• I use it with both PhpStorm and vim.

19. Sudar Muthu | @sudarmuthu #WCKochi
Demo

20. Sudar Muthu | @sudarmuthu #WCKochi
PHPUnit

21. Sudar Muthu | @sudarmuthu #WCKochi
PHPUnit
• Unit testing framework used by WordPress core.
• Definitely check WordPress core unit tests.
• Set it up using wp-cli (Don’t try to set it manually)
• Refer to my talk about Unit testing for WordPress at
WordCamp Pune.

22. Sudar Muthu | @sudarmuthu #WCKochi
Closing Remarks
• Use something that you are comfortable with.
• Always try to automate as much as possible.
• Have fun :)

23. Sudar Muthu | @sudarmuthu #WCKochi
Thank You
@sudarmuthu
http://sudarmuthu.com
https://github.com/sudar