7 Qualities of a Great Mobile App Developer

Several studies have shown that a large percentage of users nowadays delete mobile apps after one use. Likewise, most users never visit or use a mobile app again 72 hours after installation. Hence, mobile app developers have to explore innovative ways to prevent users from deleting his mobile app and persuade them to use the application regularly. But a great mobile app developer understands how to increase app download number and reduce mobile app abandonment.

While designing and developing a mobile app, he focus extensively on its functionality, performance, usability, security, searchability, and user experience. Also, he foresees the preferences and behaviour of the target audience accurately to prevent users from uninstalling or deleting the app and persuade them the visit it frequently. There are also a number of qualities that make some mobile app developers stand out among millions of mobile app developers and marketers.

7 Qualities That Make a Mobile App Developer Stand out from the Crowd

1) Foresee Customer Expectation and Behaviour

A great mobile app developer knows how to make his mobile app different from others. He collects information from various sources to identify the current and future needs of target audience. Also, he analyzes the pros and cons of similar apps to decide how to make the mobile app deliver richer user experience. The combination of creative thinking and customer behaviour analysis make the great app developer know the pulse of the market. However, he thinks differently to plan and develop a mobile app that meets expectation of target audience precisely, while appearing different from similar apps available at the app store.

2) Open to Suggestions and Revisions

A great mobile app developer always spends some time to understand and analyze the business concept thoroughly. The in-depth understanding of the business concept helps him to conceptualize features and functionality of the mobile app based on precise business requirements. However, he still needs to gather information from various sources and seek suggestions of other stakeholders in the product to make the app better and deliver richer user experience. A great mobile app developer remains open to suggestions, and discuss the business concept with other stakeholders to build a better mobile app. Likewise, he remains open to accommodate several changes and revisions to make the mobile app deliver richer user experience or meet business requirements precisely.

3) Proficiency in Technologies and Programming Languages

Major mobile platforms allow developers to write apps in multiple languages. For instance, a developer can write an iOS app in Swift or Objective-C. Likewise, he can write an Android app in Java or C++. Some cross-platform mobile app development tools even allow programmers to write iOS, Android, and Windows Phone app in a single programming language. A great mobile app developer always writes the mobile app in the best programming language. He further takes the SDK and other development tools provided by the mobile platform to avoid writing additional code. A great mobile app developer learns and evaluates various programming languages to decide the best way to write the next mobile app.

4) Expertise in Picking the Right Tools and Frameworks

Each great mobile app developers understand the significance of keeping the mobile app delivery cycles short and reduce time to market. He always automates common mobile app development and testing activities to deliver a custom mobile app within a shorter amount of time. He also combine open source and commercial tools to curtail mobile app development time without increasing project overheads. The mobile app developers always gather information about the emerging mobile app development and testing tools. He further replaces the conventional tools with more advanced tools to simplify and speedup mobile app development process. Hence, a great mobile app developer always pick the right mobile app development tools, and combine various tools to build high quality mobile apps without putting extra time and effort.

5) Ability to Identify Why Users Delete Mobile Apps

As mentioned earlier, a large percentage of users nowadays abandon or delete mobile apps after one use. A user may abandon or delete a mobile app due to a number of reasons - technical issues, complex user interface (UI), poor user experience (UX), uninteresting content, and intrusive notifications and in-app purchase options. A great mobile app developer identifies the factors that make users delete or abandon mobile apps based on information and data collected from various sources. He further test the mobile app continuously and elaborately to boost its user experience and engagement.

6) Flexibility to Meet Emerging Mobile App Development Trends

Each new version of a mobile operating system comes with several new features and enhancements. Likewise, new smartphones and tablets also come with redesigned hardware features. To remain popular and profitable, the mobile app must deliver optimal user experience regardless of the device and operating system. At the same time, it must cater to the changing needs and preferences of users to keep them interested and engaged. A great mobile app developer remains flexible enough to meet the emerging technologies and trends. He experiments with new ideas, models, methods and techniques to keep the mobile app relevant and profitable despite the changing and evolving mobile app market.

7) Focus on Maintaining the Mobile App’s Goodwill and Credibility

The great mobile app developer always focuses on the factors that affect the app’s goodwill and credibility in the longer run. While planning and developing a mobile app, he explores ways to keep it functional and deliver optimal user experience consistently. For instance, a great mobile app developer performs elaborate security testing to ensure that mobile app remains functional despite targeted security attacks and disruption of service threats. Likewise, he also test all aspects of the app across multiple devices, platforms, browsers and user condition to identify and repair all bugs and performance issues in the application before its launch. The focus on long-term goodwill and credibility helps great app developer to maintain the popularity and profitability of his mobile app over a longer period of time.

However, no great developer can launch popular and profitable mobile apps consistently. But he always identifies the factors that dissuade users from using the mobile app on a regular basis. He always uses his past mistakes and experiences as an instrument to make his next mobile app both popular and profitable.

How good is Backbone.js for Mobile App Development?

Many enterprises nowadays build cross-platform mobile apps to overcome mobile device and operating system diversity. Unlike native mobile apps, the cross-platform applications are developed with commonly used web technologies like HTML5, CSS3 and JavaScript. Also, the developers can make the app available on multiple mobile platforms with a single code base. But the developers need robust tools to accelerate cross-platform mobile application development. The features provided by Backbone.js help developers to simplify and speed up development of HTML5-based mobile applications.

Despite being a lightweight JavaScript library, Backbone.js supports model-view-controller (MVC) concept. The MVC design paradigm simplifies development and maintenance of mobile apps by keeping their user interfaces and business logic separate. The developer can use Backbone.js to build HTML-based mobile apps without additional performance overheads. Also, they can represent data as models, and create, validate, save, or destroy the models to the server. The developers can further take advantage of the features provided by Backbone.js to build cross-platform mobile apps rapidly.

Why Backbone.js is Useful for Cross-Platform Mobile App Developers?

Keep User Interface and Business Logic Separate

The single and unified code base makes it easier for developers to build and maintain HTML5-based mobile apps. But the developers have to make changes to the code base frequently to enhance the app’s functionality and performance. The MVC framework provided by Backbone.js enables programmers to divide an app into multiple modules and keep its user interface and business logic separated. The separation makes it easier for developers to maintain and update cross-platform mobile apps without putting extra time and effort.

Avail Several Building Blocks

In addition to providing a MVC framework, Backbone.js also provides various building blocks – model, collection, events, and router. The users have option to represent data as models. They can even create, save, modify and destroy models to the server. The model will further trigger a change event each time its attributes change due to user action. It further changes the changes to the views displaying its state. Based on the notification sent by the model, the views render themselves afresh. Hence, the mobile app keeps users engaged by providing updated information.

Implement Event-Driven Communication

Backbone.js simplifies cross-platform mobile app development by keeping the app’s user interface and business logic separated. But it enables programmers to facilitate event-driven communication between the model and view. They can easily control the changes made to the view by adding event listeners to various attributes of a model. The programmers also have option to link the models to the back-end. Hence, they can easily facilitate event-driven communication to render the view afresh each time the model changes.

Use JavaScript Functions

While developing a cross-platform mobile app developers have to explore ways to make it look good on each device and platform. Backbone.js developers can build robust mobile apps by availing more than 100 extensions and plug-ins – Backbone Forms, Backbone.Validators, Backbone.localStorage, Backbone.Offline, Backbone.safe and Backbone-orm. Also, it enables programmers to developer mobile app front-ends with JavaScript functions. Hence, the developers can easily add functionality to the mobile user interface by using both predefined and custom JavaScript functions.

Use Underscore.js Methods

Backbone.js is a compact JavaScript library. But it has a hard-dependency on another JavaScript library - Underscore.js. The utility functions provided by Underscore.js help users to accomplish a variety of programming tasks. Also, the functional programming helpers provided by Underscore.js enable programmers to accomplish specific tasks without extending the built-in objects. While developing mobile apps with Backbone.js, the developers can take advantage of the functions provided by Underscore.js to accomplish common tasks without writing longer lines of code. Also, these functions will help the programmers to keep the mobile app code clean and maintainable.

Synchronize User Data

The mobile app developers can use Backbone.js to keep the code base structured and organized. Also, they can use the JavaScript library to manage data model efficiently. Backbone.js enables developers to make the app deliver data to clients without making any modification or conversion. They can display the data on the server side without changing the format used on the client side. The feature makes it easier for programmers to manage data model and synchronize the client-side and server-side data.

Avail Robust Debugging Tools

While developing mobile apps with Backbone.js, the developers can assess its components and evaluate its behaviour by using specific extensions. They can use Backbone Debugger to debug the mobile applications based on real-time information on models, views, collections and routers. Likewise, they can use Backbone Eye to monitor the behaviour of the mobile app when it runs on browsers without accessing the JavaScript code. The extensions help users to identify and repair all issues affecting the app’s functionality and performance.

However, the mobile app developers must remember that Backbone.js is a compact and lightweight JavaScript library. It lacks several features provided by other cross-platform mobile app development tools. For instance, Backbone.js does not provide a user interface (UI) framework despite supporting MVC paradigm. The programmers have render user interface of the mobile app by using additional UI frameworks. Also, they have to use libraries and plug-ins compatible with the JavaScript MVC library to build cross-platform mobile apps efficiently and rapidly. 

Python vs. Flask: A brief comparison

At present, Python is a widely used popular general-purpose programming language. Unlike other programming languages, Python enables programmers simplify development and maintenance of software applications by writing clean, concise, and readable code. Hence, many developers use Python for development of desktop GUI applications and web applications. But the developers have to use a number of Python frameworks and libraries to simplify and speed up development of various software applications.

Flask is a lightweight web framework written in Python programming language. Like other micro-frameworks, Flask enables programmers to build a variety of web application that perform smoothly without relying on third-party libraries. However, it allows programmers to add functionalities to a web application by adding plug-ins. At the same time, the libraries, tools and modules provided by Flask make it easier for programmers to build websites and web applications without putting extra time and effort.

Understanding Important Differences between Python and Flask

Programming Language

In addition to being a general purpose and high level programming language, Python also supports object-oriented, functional, and imperative programming. It further features a dynamic type system, and supports automatic memory management. At the same time, the simple syntax rules of the programming language makes it easier for programmers to build and maintain applications by writing clean, readable and concise code. At present, Python is being used by programmers for building both desktop GUI applications and web applications.

Many programmers use Python as web scripting language to build and maintain a variety of web applications easily. But Python lacks the built-in features required to build web applications efficiently. Hence, developers have to use web frameworks additionally to write web applications rapidly in Python. Flask is a modern and lightweight web framework for Python which comes with a built-in development server. The built-in development server make the web applications run smoothly with minimal third-party dependency.

Web Framework

Python is not designed with built-in features to facilitate web application development. Hence, developers have to use various web frameworks while using Python as a web scripting language. Based on specific needs of the project, the Python programmers have option to choose from several full-stack and micro web frameworks including Django, TurboGears, web2py, Bottle, Pyramid, Hug and CherryPy.  Flask is a micro and non full stack web framework for Python. It enables programmers to create web applications that function without depending on many third-party libraries and plug-ins.

Design Rule

The web developers have option to choose from several lightweight web frameworks. But the libraries, modules and tools provided by individual micro frameworks differ. Flask is designed based on two Pocco Projects - Jinja2 and Werkzeug WSGI toolkit. The developers can use Jinja2 as a robust template engine for Python. Jinja2 makes it easier for programmers to render dynamic web pages by combine specific data sources with particular templates. At the same time, the developers can use Werkzeug WSGI toolkit to facilitate client-server communication by executing various utilities functions like request implementation and response object generation.

Specific Features and Tools

The features and tools provided by Flask make it different from other lightweight web frameworks for Python. In addition to allowing users to take advantage of Werkzeug WSGI utility toolkit and Jinja2 template engine, Flask comes with built-in development server and debugger, and supports RESTful request dispatching, integrated unit testing, secure client-side cookies, and Web Server Gateway Interface (WSGI). These features help programmers to enhance the user experience delivered by the website without writing additional code. Also, they can assess the functionality and performance of the application easily by performing integrated unit tests.

Usage

As mentioned earlier, Python is a general purpose programming languages. In addition to being used a web scripting language, Python is also used widely for scientific computing, artificial intelligence tasks, and big data applications. But the Python developers have to use a variety of frameworks and libraries according to the nature and usage of each software application. For instance, they have to use libraries like SciPy, NumPy or Matplotlib while using Python for scientific computing. Flask is a web framework for Python. Hence, the developers can use Flask to use Python more efficiently as a web scripting language.

However, one must not forget that comparing Python with Flask is similar to comparing apples and oranges. Python is a general purpose programming language which is used widely for web application development. On the other hand, Flask is a lightweight web framework written in Python. No programmer can build web applications with Flask without being familiar with Python.  

Do Business Owners Need Both Mobile Apps and Mobile Websites for Their Businesses?

A steady increase is being noted in the number of people accessing digital content on their smartphones, tablets and phablets. A large number of people even use their mobile devices from accessing websites, using social networks, and checking emails. Many studies have shown that a large number of users prefer mobile apps to mobile websites to avail personalized experience and location-based services. But no enterprise can increase its sales and revenue by replacing its website with a mobile app. A business needs both mobile apps and mobile websites to reach out to a higher number of users and convert them into customers.

Pros and Cons of Building a Mobile App

Several companies have used mobile apps successfully to keep the users engaged and increase conversion rates. The mobile app makes it easier for customers to interact with the business and its products/services. In addition to communicating with the customers more effectively, a business can also use the mobile apps to promote its products/services and increase sales through attractive offers and discounts. The mobile app will further make it easier for the business to promote and popularize its new products and services within a shorter amount of time. Also, the business can use its mobile app as an efficient tool to build a powerful brand.

But an enterprise cannot avail these benefits without making its app available on multiple platforms. At present, the worldwide market share of Android exceeds that of iOS by a large margin. But the people using iOS-powered devices are more likely to indulge in mobile commerce and in-app purchases. Hence, the business must make its app available for Android to accomplish more downloads and for iOS to boost sale of products/services. Often small companies and start-ups lack the resources like talented mobile app developers to develop native mobile apps for multiple mobile platforms due to varying application code and programming language. Hence, many enterprises opt for cross-platform mobile apps to reach out to more users by overcoming the operating system and device diversity.

Pros and Cons of Developing a Mobile Website

As mentioned earlier, many businesses lack the resources required to make native mobile apps for multiple mobile platforms. But each enterprise can launch a mobile website without investing extra time, effort and money. The mobile website can be accessed by users through a browser on a wide variety of devices and operating systems. The enterprise can further update the website and make new functionalities available to each user almost instantaneously. Also, it can promote the website on search engines and social networks to increase both number of visitors and increase conversion rate.

An enterprise also has option to convert its mobile website into a web application that functions just like native mobile apps. But the mobile websites, unlike mobile apps, lack the capability to access the native features of the underlying mobile device and operating system. Hence, the mobile websites lack the capability to deliver personalized user experience. Also, an enterprise cannot provide location-based services efficiently through a mobile website. That is why; it becomes essential the business to focus on the user experience delivered by the mobile websites to keep the visitor engaged and convert them into customers.

Bridging the Gap between Mobile Apps and Mobile Websites

On the whole, both mobile app and mobile website have their own benefits and shortcomings. An enterprise has to optimize the user experience delivered by its mobile website to accomplish higher conversion rate and boost sales. Likewise, it needs to focus on the accessibility, functionality, performance and security of the mobile app to make it last longer on users’ devices. Hence, enterprises often find it challenging to manage both mobile apps and mobile websites at once. However, a business can bridge the gap between its mobile app and mobile website in a number of ways.

Google recommends businesses to make their websites deliver mobile user experience by developing progressive web apps. Like mobile websites, the progressive websites are searchable and can be updated immediately. But the users have option to install the progressive web apps on their mobile devices. Also, they can access these apps even when there is not internet connectivity. The progressive web apps still supports push notification, local notification, and similar features provided by native mobile apps.

Also, an enterprise can consider launching a mobile website initially to overcome constraints related to time and resources. It can subsequently convert the mobile website into a mobile app and make it available on multiple mobile platforms. There are a number of tools that enable users to convert their existing websites into a platform-specific mobile app while keeping its structure and content intact. These tools further make it easier for enterprises to develop and maintain both mobile apps and mobile websites simultaneously. Hence, an enterprise must explore ways to launch and manage both mobile apps and mobile websites efficiently to reach out to more users and accomplish higher conversion rates.

Security Testing of Web Applications

A number of studies have shown a steady increase in the number of unique pieces of malware created and distributed by cyber criminals. Many cyber criminals even use advanced techniques to take control of a website, and use it for malware distribution. Hence, each enterprise must get the security of websites and web application assessed on a regular basis. It must deploy seasoned testers to identify all vulnerabilities in the web application that make it prone to a variety of targeted malware attacks.

The testers will also evaluate the hosting environment of the web application to check if it is deployed in a secure environment, and accessed by users over a secure network. They will further combine various security testing techniques and tools to decide the measures required to keep the web application functional and protect valuable business data continuously. However, the enterprise must embed security testing smoothly into the software development and deployment process. Also, it needs to make security testing a continuously process to protect the web application from emerging security threats and new pieces of malware.

Why Security Testing of Web Applications must be a Continuous Process?

Cyber Criminals can Target Any Website

The information posted on various websites depict that cyber criminals have already hacked the website of many Fortune 500 companies. Unlike small businesses and start-ups, the fortune 500 companies always build comprehensive web application security defences. Despite investing in the latest security techniques, the large enterprises often fail to protect their web applications from emerging security threats. The cyber criminals combine innovative technique and advanced tools to break the security defence built by enterprises. Hence, each website nowadays is vulnerable to security attacks regardless of its size, usage, popularity, and location.

Access Control can be exploited

The term access control includes all authentication and authorization required to access a website, web server, hosting panel, and business system. Often programmers implement a variety of authorization and authentication to make the website accessible only to authorized users. But the cyber criminals use varying techniques to make the access control systems ineffective. For instance, the hackers commonly use a technique called brute force to login to a website by using possible username and password combinations. Thus, the access control system implemented by the developers often fails to combat the new techniques used by hackers. A business can always prevent the access control system of its website from being exploited by performing elaborate security testing.

Each Piece of Code has Flaws

Despite exercising utmost care and caution, programmers often fail to eliminate all flaws in the source code of the web applications. The flaws in its source code often make the website vulnerable to targeted malware attacks. The cyber criminals frequently look for ways hack website by taking advantage of the loopholes in the websites, web server, or deployment environment. These vulnerabilities further make it easier for hackers to execute SQL injection, local file inclusion, code execution and similar security attacks remotely. The seasoned software testing professionals often think like cyber criminals while testing websites and web applications. They even use the right techniques to identify and eliminate all security vulnerabilities in the web application and infrastructure.

Minimal Control over Third-Party Services and APIs

Nowadays most web applications use a variety of third-party APIs and services to deliver optimal user experience. The integration of third-party services and APIs makes it easier for developers to enhance the website’s functionality, usability, and user experience. But the third-party APIs and services make the websites vulnerable to various security threats. Often cyber criminals try to access the websites and infrastructure through the pieces of code written by external programmers. For instance, they always try to spread malware through the external ad networks. So a business must conduct security testing to ensure that each third-party service or API used by the web application is safe. Also, it must get the web application tested thoroughly to ensure that the third-party codes are not affecting the web application’s overall security.

Compromising Sensitive Customer Data

The security loopholes in a web application will affect the customers directly. The security loopholes will make it easier for cyber criminals to access confidential and private data of customers through cross-site scripting. The hackers can further use the sensitive customer data to conduct identity thefts. Likewise, the cyber criminals can also access the sensitive customer data stored in databases by executing SQL injection. So the security of a web application will impact its popularity and goodwill in the longer run. When a business performs comprehensive security testing, it becomes easier for the websites to keep all customer data secure.

Devastating Consequences of Security Breach

Often the malware attacks on small websites remain unreported and unnoticed. But the security issues in a website can have devastating effect on a small businesses and start-ups. Most states nowadays have strict laws to protect the sensitive information of citizens. When the private information of citizens is accessed by cyber criminals through its web application, an enterprise has to pay stiff fines and penalties. The security breach will further make the customers lose trust in the website. So each business must assess the security of its web applications continuously regardless of its size and scale. Also, each business must perform elaborate security testing to protect its web applications from emerging security threats.

Keep the Web Applications Functional and Live

Recently, many large enterprises have to shut down their websites and mobile apps temporarily due to denial of service attacks. Likewise, a steady increase is also being noted in the number of enterprises spending a lot of money due to ransomware. Hence, often enterprises fail to keep their web applications functional and live despite investing in robust security technologies and tools. When an enterprise performs security testing continuously, it can easily assess how the web application behaves and functions in the event of denial of service or ransomware attacks. The security testing results will further make it easier for the enterprise to decide the measures required to keep its web application functional and live despite varying targeted security attacks.

Implement Key Security Concepts

A number of studies have shown that the cyber criminals have been developing and distributing unique pieces of malware on a regular basis. Each emerging malware attacks the website through the loopholes in the authentication and authorization, input validation, login system and exception management. Hence, an enterprise must implement key security concepts like authorization, authentication, availability, integrity, confidentiality and non-repudiation to protect its web application from new malwares. Also, the business needs to implement the security concepts in the most appropriate way to make the website accessible only to genuine and authorized users. The security testing results will make it easier for the business to decide if the key security concepts are implemented perfectly.

On the whole, each enterprise must make security testing an integral part of the web application’s software development lifecycle (SDLC). It must get all security vulnerabilities in the website identified and fixed before its deployment to avoid releasing security patches in future. At the same time, the business also needs to assess the security of the website after deployment to keep it functional and eliminate impact of new pieces of malware.

How Beneficial is NLog for .Net Developers?

Recently, Microsoft redesigned the core architecture of .NET Framework and ASP.NET. The developers can now use .NET Core as a cross-platform and open source framework. Likewise, they can use ASP.NET Core to build a variety of cloud-based web applications and mobile backends within a shorter amount of time. Microsoft further allows .NET Core developers to work with an array of popular third-party frameworks and libraries.

The .NET developers have option to use a number of third-party logging and tracing tools. Each logging tool is designed with features to record detailed information about the execution of various .NET applications. The information recorded by these tools help programmers or testers to perform debugging and testing more efficiently. They can use the logs to identify the defects in an application, monitoring/auditing the live software, and debug the application code after deployment.

As a widely used .NET logging library, NLog enables developers and testers to generate high quality logs for application developed with .NET, Silverlight, or Xamarin. It has the capability to process the diagnostic messages generated by various .NET languages including C# and VB.NET. The logging platform further augments each diagnostic message with contextual information like data and time, environment, severity, process and thread. Also, NLog further allows users to display, store, and pass the log messages to multiple destinations and by targeting over 30 targets.

Understanding Important Features of NLog

Simple Configuration

The users can download and install NLog in a number of ways. A user has option to download the source code of the .NET logging library as a zip file from Github or avail NLog as binary packages from Nuget. He can further configure NLog in two distinct ways. Based on his preference, a user can configure the .NET logging library either through a single XML file or programmatically. Also, he can make changes to the configuration without restarting the applications frequently.

Templatable Log Messages

NLog further enables developers and testers to enhance the quality of log messages by converting them into templates. The users can easily template the log messages by using a variety of layout renderers. Each layout renderer is designed as a template macro used in Layouts. As an attribute of targets, the layouts determine the format in which the library will log the information. NLog further allows developers to create custom layout renderers according to their specific needs.

Generate Detailed Logs

The developers can use NLog to add sophisticated tracing code to .NET applications. In addition to processing the diagnostic message generated by various .NET languages, NLog further augments each message with contextual information, and indicates its severity by linking it to a log level. NLog makes the logs elaborate and comprehensive by augmenting contextual information like current data and time, stack trace/information, values of environmental variables, exceptions, machine, process and thread names. Also, it indicates the severity of the log by associating with any of the six levels – trace, debug, info, warn, error and fatal.

Over 30 Targets

NLog supports over thirty targets for a single message. Each developer has option to decide the way the diagnostic messages from their source to the targets simply by defining rules. For instance, a programmer can write rules to display, store and pass the log messages to varying targets including files, database, console, email message, and event logs. He has option to store the logs in a database, write the logs to multiple files, write the event logs to remote or local logs, or format the logs with a command-line console. Likewise, he can trigger an email each time an application error occurs. The ASP.NET developers even have option to get the log messages written through a built-in trace provided by the web framework.

Option to Customize and Extend

In addition to adding contextual information to each log and target multiple destinations, the users also have option to write custom targets and use custom values. The developers can further create and registered the custom tags without putting extra time and effort. But they can write custom logs to get log messages written on non-standard targets and work with new protocols currently not supported by NLog. Also, they can take advantage of a special kind of targets called wrappers. Unlike targets, wrappers lack the capability to perform logging. But the developers can use wrappers to emulate and modify behaviour of other loggers. They also have option to use a variety of wrappers according to their specific requirements.

However, NLog is yet to support .NET Core. The upcoming version 4.4 of the .NET logging platform will support .NET Core and its new features. At present, NLog supports versions 3.5, 4, 4.5, and 4.6 of .NET Framework; versions 4 and 5 of Silverlight; Windows Phone 8; and Xamarin iOS and Xamarin Android. Hence, the developers can use NLog to debug and test a variety of applications more efficiently.

10 Advanced Tips to Improve Your PHP Programming

A gradual increase is being noted in the number of web application developers switching to PHP 7 to avail an array of new features, along with enhanced speed and reduced memory consumption. They can further take advantage of the robust PHP frameworks and development tools to reduce the amount of time and effort required for building modern web applications. But the programmers still need to focus on the quality and readability of PHP code to maintain and update the web application without putting extra time and effort. Both novice and experienced web developers must keep in mind some simple tips to produce high-quality PHP code.

10 Tips to Improve the Quality of PHP Code

1) Pick the Right Function

While writing PHP code, the developers can accomplish a single task using multiple functions. But the execution speed and resource consumption differ from one function to another. Hence, it is important for the programmers to pick the right function to accomplish the task without affecting the website’s performance. For instance, while determining the length of a string, the programmers must use isset() instead of strlen() as the former makes calls much faster and stays valid regardless of existence of the variable. Likewise, the developers must replace ereg_replace() and preg_replace() with str_replace() to replace strings. But they need to use ereg_replace() and preg_replace() instead of ereg_replace() while using regular expressions.

2) Use Ternary Operators instead of If/Else Statements

It is a common practice among developers to use If/Else statements to execute code conditionally. But the If/Else statement requires programmers to write multiple lines of code. While writing PHP code, the developers can accomplish the usage of If/Else statement by using a ternary operator. The ternary operator further enables programmers to write the code in a single line, and keep the code clean and clutter-free.

3) Cache Most Scripts

On Apache web server, HTML page is served faster than PHP scripts. Also, the web server need to recompile the PHP scripts each time a page is requested, if the scripts are not cached. The developers must choose and install the right PHP caching tool to reduce script compilation time, and improve the application’s performance. They can even consider using a high-performance memory object caching system like memcache to cache maximum scripts and reduce database interactions.

4) Keep Error Reporting on

Often programmers have to put extra time and effort to repair the errors and issues in the PHP code. But the developers can easily produce flawless code by turning the error reporting to E_ALL. Also, they need to ensure that the error reporting option is not turned off till the application moves to production mode. The error reporting option will help developers to identify both minor and major errors in the PHP code almost immediately.

5) Use Single Quotes instead of Double Quotes

PHP allows programmers to write a single line of code using either single quotes (‘) or double quotes (“). But the developers must remember that single quotes speed up execution of loops, and hence boost the PHP’s application’s performance. However, they still have to write the same line of code differently using single or double quotes. They need to make it a practice to print longer lines of information using single quotes instead of double quotes.

6) Use Built-in Functions

PHP enables users to accomplish common tasks by using several built-in functions. The programmers can easily refer to the user manual to gather detailed information about PHP’s built-in functions and their usage. They must use the built-in function to accomplish specific tasks without writing additional code. The built-in functions further help developers to keep the code clean and readable.

7) Pick and Use Relevant Variable Names

PHP allows programmers to declare variables without specifying their types. While writing PHP code, the developers can follow any commonly used naming convention. But the developers must use relevant variable names to make the code readable and reusable. The must pick names that add value and conveys the nature or type of the variable clearly. For instance, they can convey the type of variable through its name. Likewise, the name of the variable can indicate the data it will store.

8) Follow the Same Naming Conventions Consistently

As noted earlier, PHP allows programmers choose from a number of commonly used naming conventions for classes, objects and variables. But the programmers must use the same naming conventions consistently throughout the coding process to make it easier for others to read and understand the code. Likewise, they can also follow the naming convention for files saved in local directories, and choose names that convey the nature and usage of individual files clearly.

9) Add Comments to Each Code Snippet

While developing a PHP web application, the programmers must remember that it may be maintained or managed by other developers. So he needs to make it easier for other developers to manage the software by clearly describing the significance and usage of individual code snippets. The programmers can easily describe the need for a specific code snippet by adding comments. In addition to making the code readable and easy-to-understand, the comments enable different PHP web developers to work on a single project.

10) Pick the Right PHP Framework

Each developer can execute PHP code in two distinct ways. He can either embed the PHP code into HTML or execute the code using PHP frameworks. The developers also have option to choose from many open source PHP frameworks including Symfony, Yii, CakePHP, Laravel, CodeIgniter and Zend. The features and resources provided by these frameworks make it easier for programmers to accomplish common tasks without writing additional code. But the features, functionality and performance of individual PHP frameworks differ. Hence, it is important for developers to pick the right PHP framework based on the requirements of each project.  

In addition to writing high-quality PHP code, the web developers also need to monitor and maintain the code base consistently. When they monitor the code throughout the development process, it becomes easier for programmers to identify the errors in the code and weaker pieces of code. Likewise, they need to use specific tracking tools to evaluate the performance of front-end and back-end off the web application written in PHP.