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Author: weaverryan

drupaler-learn-symfony.rst

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+Want to be a Drupal 8 Expert? Learn Symfony
+===========================================
+
+I'm not a Drupal developer, but I *do* know **a lot** about Drupal 8. I know
+how the event system works, what a service is and how to work with them,
+and how the deepest and darkest of Drupal's request-response workflow looks.
+
+How?
+
+Because I'm a Symfony developer. And if you want to get a jumpstart on Drupal 8,
+you should be to. I'm *not* saying use Symfony instead of Drupal - they each
+solve very different problems.
+
+Use both.
+
+What you can Learn from Symfony
+-------------------------------
+
+How about a list?
+
+1) Code
+~~~~~~~
+
+Simply put: Drupal 8 and Symfony share a lot of code called components (think,
+little PHP libraries). You can see these right inside the `Drupal core on GitHub`_
+and Symfony documents these individually (`Symfony Components`_). If you
+use Symfony right now, you're using a lot of code from Drupal 8.
+
+2) Double your Weaponry
+~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
+
+Symfony isn't always the right tool for a job, and neither is Drupal. But
+when you learn Symfony, you're doubling the number of tools that you can
+throw at any problem.
+
+And because so much is share, you get these 2 tools at a discounted learning
+price. Nice!
+
+3) PHP Namespaces
+~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
+
+Drupal 8 uses PHP namespaces. But great news! These aren't that hard, and
+after using Symfony for a bit (or any modern PHP framework or library), this
+learning curve will be a thing of the past.
+
+And if you have 2 minutes, we have a screencast for you: `PHP Namespaces in 120 Seconds`_
+
+4) Object-Oriented-ness
+~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
+
+Yay, objects! Interfaces! Flexibility!
+
+Objects are everywhere in Symfony and Drupal (and again, in almost every PHP
+library these days). Use Symfony for a day and you'll be *way* ahead on this.
+
+5) The Container
+~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
+
+If you're a geek, one of the most exciting things about Drupal 8 is its use
+of a "dependency injection container". Quick, take 20 minutes and learn about
+dependency injection and containers: `Dependency Injection and the art of services and containers`_.
+I'll wait.
+
+In Symfony, everything stops and starts with the container. And in Drupal 8,
+things will be much the same. Without going too far, the container (and good
+use of object-oriented principles) allows you to modify *any* part of the
+Drupal core without - as Larry Garfield puts it - killing any kittens (see
+`D8FTW: Hacking Core Without Killing Kittens`_).
+
+Get into Symfony and you'll get right to the container. We even intro it
+early in our Symfony series (`Rendering a Template`_) cause it's just so
+darn important.
+
+6) HttpKernel
+~~~~~~~~~~~~~
+
+This is the beating heart of Symfony2 and Drupal 8.
+
+It's a Symfony component (little PHP library!) and I'd tell you what it does,
+but then I'd have to kill you.
+
+Actually, it's just a bit complex: it's the code that starts with request
+information and transforms it into a response. It involves dispatching Symfony
+events (another concept!), executing a controller and returning a Response.
+Geek out here: `The HttpKernel Component`_.
+
+The code-sharing between Symfony and Drupal 8 doesn't include frivolous pieces:
+they share the most fundamental code that makes things go. No matter how
+different 2 different cars are, under the hood, they move using the same
+basic mechanics. (Bad pun:) So take Symfony for a drive.
+
+Start using Symfony!
+--------------------
+
+If you want to step through a real project, I of course highly recommend
+our Symfony2 series. I've listed the 4 episodes, with highlights that directly
+affect Drupalers:
+
+* `Symfony2 Ep1`_ (install, bundles, routing, controller, services, Composer)
+* `Symfony2 Ep2`_ (a lot more controllers)
+* `Symfony2 Ep3`_ (JSON, dependency injection container, services, DI tags)
+* `Symfony2 Ep4`_ (Assetic, Deployment)
+
+And for an even lower barrier to entry, try `Silex`_! Here's a Silex app::
+
+    require_once __DIR__.'/../vendor/autoload.php'; 
+
+    $app = new Silex\Application(); 
+
+    $app->get('/drupal/{version}', function($version) use($app) { 
+        return 'You\'re using Drupal '.$name; 
+    });
+
+    $app->run(); 
+
+That's it. And this *still* uses all the most important components used in
+Drupal 8 - HttpKernel, EventDispatcher and a dependency injection container.
+
+So start kicking butt in Drupal 8 right now and add another tool to your
+arsenal.
+
+Happy Drupal-Symfonying!
+
+.. _`Drupal core on GitHub`: https://github.com/drupal/drupal/tree/8.x/core/vendor/symfony
+.. _`Symfony Components`: http://symfony.com/doc/current/components/index.html
+.. _`PHP Namespaces in 120 Seconds`: knpuniversity.com/screencast/php-namespaces-in-120-seconds
+.. _`Dependency Injection and the art of services and containers`: http://knpuniversity.com/screencast/dependency-injection
+.. _`D8FTW: Hacking Core Without Killing Kittens`: http://www.palantir.net/blog/d8ftw-hacking-core-without-killing-kittens
+.. _`The HttpKernel Component`: http://symfony.com/doc/current/components/http_kernel/introduction.html

metadata.yml

@@ -88,3 +88,14 @@ blogs:
             from writing tutorials and collaborating.
         author: weaverryan
         category: news
+
+    "drupaler-learn-symfony":
+        title: Want to be a Drupal 8 Expert? Start with Symfony
+        published: 2014-02-04
+        preview: |
+            Drupal 8 changes a lot under the hood and those will make you
+            a happier and more productive developer. But don't wait for its
+            release to kick butt in the new world. That's right, just learn
+            Symfony. 
+        author: weaverryan
+        category: news