PHP for Beginners: Learn PHP, MySQL, MVC, Routing, Authentication and Testing by Laracasts

About this course

Start building dynamic websites with PHP by learning the parts that matter when you move beyond hello world. This course is designed for beginners who want practical skills in modern web development, combining clear fundamentals with the patterns you will see in real applications. You will go from writing your first PHP tags and working with variables, conditionals, arrays, and functions to organizing your code so it stays readable as your project grows.

As you progress, you will shift from simple scripts to building structured pages with reusable templates, partials, and clean separation between logic and presentation. You will understand how URLs map to code by creating your own routing, handling different request methods, and following resourceful conventions that keep your project consistent. Along the way, you will learn why small architectural choices like a public document root, autoloading, and namespacing can dramatically improve maintainability.

Database work is treated as a core skill, not an afterthought. You will connect PHP to MySQL using PDO, encapsulate database access in a dedicated class, and learn how configuration and environments help your code adapt safely across machines. You will also build a strong security mindset, using prepared statements to prevent SQL injection and escaping untrusted output to protect users.

User accounts turn your app into a real product, so you will implement sessions, registration, login and logout, secure password handling, authorization rules, and middleware to guard routes appropriately. Form handling is approached with care, emphasizing server-side validation, clearer error handling, and patterns like Post/Redirect/Get to deliver a smoother user experience.

Finally, you will get an approachable introduction to automated testing with Composer tooling and Pest, so you can refactor with confidence and start developing professional habits. By the end, you will have a solid foundation to continue into larger PHP frameworks and real-world backend work.