42 best practices for Symfony, a decade later

We are in March 2013. Symfony 2.2 has just been released, PHP 5.5 is around the corner and I give my first public talk during a SymfonyLive: “42 best practices for Symfony” (in French).
10+ years later a lot of things changed for Symfony, for PHP but also regarding development in general.

Let’s take a moment to look back at those best practices and see which one are still relevant, obsolete or now completely wrong. This would be a nice opportunity to reflect on the evolutions our ecosystem experienced over the last decade.

Transcript

1. 42 best practices for Symfony, a decade later Tugdual Saunier
2. Tugdual Saunier / @tucksaun / tugdual@saunier.tech Back in time
3. Tugdual Saunier / @tucksaun / tugdual@saunier.tech https://www.goodfon.com/new-year/wallpaper-2013-novyy-god-prazdnik-iskry.html
4. Tugdual Saunier / @tucksaun / tugdual@saunier.tech Some events that were regional …
5. Tugdual Saunier / @tucksaun / tugdual@saunier.tech … became international
6. Tugdual Saunier / @tucksaun / tugdual@saunier.tech Some topics became more trendy DevOps Micro Services Docker IA
7. Tugdual Saunier / @tucksaun / tugdual@saunier.tech And some new ones emerged Chat GPT
8. Tugdual Saunier / @tucksaun / tugdual@saunier.tech Some things didn ’ t really change …
9. Tugdual Saunier / @tucksaun / tugdual@saunier.tech … but some are
10. Tugdual Saunier / @tucksaun / tugdual@saunier.tech Designs evolved
11. Tugdual Saunier / @tucksaun / tugdual@saunier.tech Designs evolved
12. Tugdual Saunier / @tucksaun / tugdual@saunier.tech Devices evolved
13. Tugdual Saunier / @tucksaun / tugdual@saunier.tech Usages radically changed
14. Tugdual Saunier / @tucksaun / tugdual@saunier.tech Bitcoin skyrocketed
15. Tugdual Saunier / @tucksaun / tugdual@saunier.tech https://speakerdeck.com/tucksaun/42-best-practices-for-symfony2 https://speakerdeck.com/tucksaun/42-bonnes-pratique-pour- symfony2 Translated for the occasion so that you can go back in time if you wish 🤓
16. Tugdual Saunier / @tucksaun / tugdual@saunier.tech Agenda https://www.flickr.com/photos/internetarchivebookimages/14596082918/ • Obsolete practices • Up-to-date practices • Adjusted practices • New practices
17. Tugdual Saunier / @tucksaun / tugdual@saunier.tech Disclaimer Generated using Adobe Firefly
18. Tugdual Saunier / @tucksaun / tugdual@saunier.tech Obsoletes practices https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Hindenburg_burning.jpg
19. Tugdual Saunier / @tucksaun / tugdual@saunier.tech “No official best practices” Back in 2013, there was no official best practices list. This is not the case anymore: https://symfony.com/doc/ current/best_practices.html
20. Tugdual Saunier / @tucksaun / tugdual@saunier.tech “Symfony2” No, not anymore 😅 “Use Symfony2 (capitalized, no space) when you are looking for documentation or seeking help”
21. Tugdual Saunier / @tucksaun / tugdual@saunier.tech Bootstrapping / Structure Well, well, well… Flex has been a game changer and the "skeleton" is now an empty shell. “Use the Standard Edition. But do some house cleaning!”
22. Tugdual Saunier / @tucksaun / tugdual@saunier.tech Bootstrapping / Structure Also, there is now an official symfony tool that can be used to bootstrap a project symfony new
23. Tugdual Saunier / @tucksaun / tugdual@saunier.tech Bootstrapping / Structure Does not even exist anymore 😂 “Don't deploy app_dev.php”
24. Tugdual Saunier / @tucksaun / tugdual@saunier.tech Assets 🙊 “Use Assetic”
25. Tugdual Saunier / @tucksaun / tugdual@saunier.tech Up-to-date
 practices https://www.flickr.com/photos/harry_nl/30761967444
26. Tugdual Saunier / @tucksaun / tugdual@saunier.tech Documentation “Read it. Read it again.”
27. Tugdual Saunier / @tucksaun / tugdual@saunier.tech Coding Style “A must-have tool is available to help your to respect Symfony's coding style: PHP Coding Standards Fixer (cs.symfony.com)” It's funny to see that this tool is still around!
28. Tugdual Saunier / @tucksaun / tugdual@saunier.tech Semantic configuration “Use Semantic Configuration for your application. This is useful to validate configuration during cache warmup and display meaningful error messages.”
29. Tugdual Saunier / @tucksaun / tugdual@saunier.tech Controllers “No business logic in controllers.”
30. Tugdual Saunier / @tucksaun / tugdual@saunier.tech Forms “Build your form in Form Types.” “Always redirect the user after a successful form processing in POST.”
31. Tugdual Saunier / @tucksaun / tugdual@saunier.tech Doctrine “Queries must be created in dedicated classes (Repository), not directly in controllers/services.” “Use your entities to store data. Use dedicated business classes to manipulate them.” “Enable metadata and query caches.”
32. Tugdual Saunier / @tucksaun / tugdual@saunier.tech Tests “Test your application. Use unit AND functional tests (at least).”
33. Tugdual Saunier / @tucksaun / tugdual@saunier.tech Logging “Do not refrain yourself to log.” “Monolog's default configuration is really good for production.”
34. Tugdual Saunier / @tucksaun / tugdual@saunier.tech Profiler “The Web Debug Toolbar gives you a lot of useful informations. Always keep an eye on it.”
35. Tugdual Saunier / @tucksaun / tugdual@saunier.tech Commands “Use Commands for your batch processing and repetitive tasks.”
36. Tugdual Saunier / @tucksaun / tugdual@saunier.tech PHP “Use PHP 5.4” Time flies 😂 Should have been phrased as “use the latest available version” but the idea behind still stands
37. Tugdual Saunier / @tucksaun / tugdual@saunier.tech Finally “Do not forget that Symfony is a PHP Object Framework.”
38. Tugdual Saunier / @tucksaun / tugdual@saunier.tech Finally Symfony is not dogmatic … be pragmatic
39. Tugdual Saunier / @tucksaun / tugdual@saunier.tech Slightly adjusted
 practices https://1x.com/photo/914233
40. Tugdual Saunier / @tucksaun / tugdual@saunier.tech Bundles Back in 2013, organising your code in Bundles was a challenge and the source of a lot of questioning. The tips evoked at this moment are still relevant but only for specific use cases.
41. Tugdual Saunier / @tucksaun / tugdual@saunier.tech Dependency Injection Container (DIC) But today, the Autowiring changed the game and the pure DIC experience is mostly needed for advanced use cases “The DIC is without any doubts the most powerful tool in Symfony. Symfony flexibility comes from the DIC.”
42. Tugdual Saunier / @tucksaun / tugdual@saunier.tech DIC The Autowiring makes your life easier. Use it! But look at what happens behind the scenes.
43. Tugdual Saunier / @tucksaun / tugdual@saunier.tech Your credentials are sensitive! We now also have Secrets 🦹 Have a look at them • Do not hardcode credentials in configuration: use parameters • Do not version parameters.[ini|yml] • Use environment variables
44. Tugdual Saunier / @tucksaun / tugdual@saunier.tech Views Twig is the only templating engine available natively today. So the recommendation to use it still stands, but you have less choice 😆 “Use Twig”
45. Tugdual Saunier / @tucksaun / tugdual@saunier.tech Security Don’t forget about Voters.
46. Tugdual Saunier / @tucksaun / tugdual@saunier.tech New
 practices https://www.flickr.com/photos/spacex/52553312005/
47. Tugdual Saunier / @tucksaun / tugdual@saunier.tech Docker Use Docker (or a similar tech) in order to get a reproductible stack.
48. Tugdual Saunier / @tucksaun / tugdual@saunier.tech API Don’t reinvent the wheel Use API Platform
49. Tugdual Saunier / @tucksaun / tugdual@saunier.tech Assets Use AssetMapper
50. Tugdual Saunier / @tucksaun / tugdual@saunier.tech Workflow Don’t forget about the Workflow component
51. Tugdual Saunier / @tucksaun / tugdual@saunier.tech Messenger Use Messenger early on (even for synchronous handling). Consider moving to async background handling.
52. Tugdual Saunier / @tucksaun / tugdual@saunier.tech Scheduler Combine Console + Messenger + Scheduler This is a really powerful combo, your logic can then be easily triggered either: • from the web • on a regular basis • manually using the command line
53. Tugdual Saunier / @tucksaun / tugdual@saunier.tech Embrace the small iterative changes Apply minor version upgrades early on! Symfony now has the BC promise. This means the minor version upgrades are safe. They will bring you new features without breaking changes.
54. Tugdual Saunier / @tucksaun / tugdual@saunier.tech Prepare for bigger changes With minor version upgrades you will gain deprecations notices and BC layer. So you can migrate to new ways of doing things earlier and little by little
55. Tugdual Saunier / @tucksaun / tugdual@saunier.tech Embrace the bigger changes For smooth major version upgrades: Monitor the deprecations reporting and clean them little by little Use Rector Have tests Follow best practices 🤓
56. Tugdual Saunier / @tucksaun / tugdual@saunier.tech Conclusion https://www.flickr.com/photos/spacex/51027443336/
57. Tugdual Saunier / @tucksaun / tugdual@saunier.tech Conclusion https://www.vecteezy.com/photo/26975988-a-worker-s-hands-hard-work-and-dedication-that-goes-into-their-craft-labor-day-ai-generative
58. Tugdual Saunier / @tucksaun / tugdual@saunier.tech Conclusion https://www.esa.int/ESA_Multimedia/Images/2021/11/Cosmic_pearl
59. Tugdual Saunier / @tucksaun / tugdual@saunier.tech Conclusion https://concord.fandom.com/wiki/Interstellar_Spaceship_Names?file=Interstellar_spaceship.jpg
60. Tugdual Saunier / @tucksaun / tugdual@saunier.tech Conclusion https://www.deviantart.com/glennclovis/art/Phoenix-Station-415020946
61. Tugdual Saunier / @tucksaun / tugdual@saunier.tech @tucksaun tugdual@saunier.tech