The document discusses tools that can increase productivity for WordPress developers. It introduces the speaker and asks the audience about their experience. The talk then demonstrates Integrated Development Environments (IDEs) like PhpStorm, local development environments like VVV and Flywheel, the xDebug debugger, the wp-cli command line interface, PHP CodeSniffer for linting code, and PHPUnit for testing. The key message is to automate as much as possible and use tools that make developers comfortable and productive.

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

2. Sudar Muthu | @sudarmuthu #WCMumbai
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 #WCMumbai
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 #WCMumbai
IDE

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

6. Sudar Muthu | @sudarmuthu #WCMumbai
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 #WCMumbai
Demo

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

9. Sudar Muthu | @sudarmuthu #WCMumbai
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 #WCMumbai
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 #WCMumbai
xDebug

12. Sudar Muthu | @sudarmuthu #WCMumbai
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 #WCMumbai
Demo

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

15. Sudar Muthu | @sudarmuthu #WCMumbai
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 #WCMumbai
Demo

17. Sudar Muthu | @sudarmuthu #WCMumbai
PHP CodeSniffer

18. Sudar Muthu | @sudarmuthu #WCMumbai
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 #WCMumbai
Demo

20. Sudar Muthu | @sudarmuthu #WCMumbai
PHPUnit

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

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