Copyright (C) 2015-2025 Mark Constable [email protected] (MIT License)
A progressive PHP 8.5 micro-framework tutorial in 10 chapters. Each chapter builds on the previous, demonstrating modern PHP features and design patterns.
| Feature | Description |
|---|---|
| Pipe Operator | PHP 8.5's |> for elegant data transformation chains |
| Micro-Framework | Minimal MVC architecture without heavy dependencies |
| CRUD Operations | Complete Create, Read, Update, Delete, List pattern |
| PSR-4 Autoloading | Modern Composer-based class loading |
| SQLite + PDO | Lightweight database with type-safe queries |
| Custom CSS | No Bootstrap - minimal responsive styling (~270 lines) |
| Plugin System | Extensible architecture with meta.json configuration |
| Full CMS | Blog, Pages, Categories, Auth, User management |
// PHP 8.5 Pipe operator with first-class callables
$value = $input
|> trim(...)
|> strtolower(...)
|> (fn($s) => filter_var($s, FILTER_SANITIZE_URL));
// PHP 8.4 Asymmetric visibility
public private(set) string $page;
// PHP 8.3 Typed constants + Override attribute
private const string DEFAULT = 'home';
#[\Override] public function list(): array { ... }
// PHP 8.2 Readonly classes
final readonly class PluginMeta { ... }
// PHP 8.1 Enums
enum QueryType { case All; case One; case Column; }Watch the complete tutorial series on YouTube - 10 chapters with AI narration covering all framework features.
Want to create your own tutorial videos? See 00-Tutorial for the video generation pipeline.
- PHP 8.5+ (for pipe operator
|>) - Composer (for chapters 05-09)
Local-first: PHP 8.5 isn't widely deployed yet. Run locally with php -S localhost:8000 to learn and experiment.
git clone https://github.com/markc/spe
cd spe
composer install
php -S localhost:8000Open http://localhost:8000 to see the chapter index.
| # | Name | Description | Key Feature |
|---|---|---|---|
| 00 | Tutorial | Video generation pipeline | Playwright + Piper TTS |
| 01 | Simple | Single-file anonymous class | Pipe operator basics |
| 02 | Styled | Custom CSS, dark mode | Toast notifications |
| 03 | Plugins | Plugin architecture | CRUDL pattern |
| 04 | Themes | Model/View separation | Multiple layouts |
| 05 | Autoload | PSR-4 autoloading | Composer integration |
| 06 | Session | Session management | State persistence |
| 07 | PDO | Database access | SQLite + QueryType enum |
| 08 | Users | User management | Full CRUDL operations |
| 09 | Blog | Complete CMS | Auth, Blog, Docs, Categories |
| 10 | YouTube | YouTube Manager | OAuth, API, Shared Services |
URL: ?o=Home&m=list&t=TopNav
o = Object/Plugin name
m = Method/Action (CRUDL: create, read, update, delete, list)
t = Theme (Simple, TopNav, SideBar)
index.php → Init(Ctx) → {Plugin}Model→method() → {Plugin}View→method() → HTML
XX-Chapter/
├── public/
│ └── index.php # Entry point
└── src/
├── Core/ # Framework classes (Init, Ctx, Db, Plugin, Theme)
├── Plugins/ # Feature plugins (Model + View + meta.json)
└── Themes/ # Layout themes (Simple, TopNav, SideBar)
Single source of truth via symlinks - edit once, appears everywhere:
docs/ # Actual files (GitHub Pages serves from here)
├── README.md # Main project README
├── spe.css, spe.js, md.js # Shared assets
└── */README.md # Chapter documentation
/README.md → symlink → docs/README.md
/spe.css → symlink → docs/spe.css
/01-Simple/README.md → symlink → ../docs/01-Simple/README.md
...
Benefits:
- GitHub Pages - serves real files from
docs/ - GitHub repo - follows symlinks, displays README in each folder
- Local dev - symlinks work seamlessly on Linux/macOS
Edit docs/*/README.md and changes propagate to repo view and GitHub Pages automatically.
No Bootstrap! Custom spe.css (~270 lines):
- CSS variables for light/dark theming
@media (prefers-color-scheme: dark)automatic dark mode- Manual toggle via localStorage
- Responsive layouts (TopNav, SideBar)
- Dropdown menus, toast notifications, card grids
MIT License - See individual file headers for copyright notices.
