PHP Back to Basics: Functions Support
Functions allow you to lay out your code in a more organized way, and allow you to easily re use your code, saving you time, and making your projects easier to read and debug
In this tutorial, we're going to look at using functions in PHP. Functions allow you to lay out your code in a more organized way, and allow you to easily re use your code, saving you time, and making your projects easier to read and debug.
We’re going to look first at what functions are, and how they can be used. We then look at how to create a function in your code, and how to make the function accept arguments which can then be used in the function code. Next, we see how to return a value from a function to the calling code, so that the result can then be output or sent for further processing.
In the second part of this tutorial we look at the scope of variables, and how variables from your main code can be read or changed from within a function. Finally, we look at using the static command which can save the data held in variables between function calls.
Gareth Downes-Powell
Gareth has a range of skills, covering many computer and internet related subjects. He is proficient in many different languages including ASP and PHP, and is responsible for the setup and maintenance of both Windows and Linux servers on a daily basis.
In his daily web development work he uses the complete range of Macromedia software, including Dreamweaver MX, Flash MX, Fireworks MX and Director to build a number of websites and applications. Gareth has a close relationship with Macromedia, and as a member of Team Macromedia Dreamweaver, he has worked closely in the development of Dreamweaver, and was a beta tester for Dreamweaver MX.
On a daily basis he provides support for users in the Macromedia forums, answering questions and providing help on a range of different web related subjects. He has also written a number of free and commercial extensions for Dreamweaver MX, to further extend its capabilities using its native JavaScript API’s or C++.
As a web host, Gareth has worked with a range of different servers and operating systems, with the Linux OS as his personal favourite. Most of his development work is done using a combination of Linux, Apache and MySQL and he has written extensively about setting up this type of system, and also running Apache and MySQL under Windows.