Email the Author
You can use this page to email Johnathon Koster about The PHP Spellbook.
About the Book
My oldest daughter, who started middle school this year, came to me recently with some questions about some extra schoolwork she got. She got to choose a few additional classes and she chose some heavy computer science classes. Her questions concerned data structures, algorithms, and general logic.
I started writing down some things for her, and before I knew it, I had some substantial writing completed. I also noticed that I have been really enjoying writing about these topics for her, so I have decided to keep writing her these and package them together in a cohesive book project (don't worry if you're concerned about it being a "children's book": she's brilliant for her age and has no problem keeping up with some of the more advanced topics, notation and math).
The book aims to be a light-hearted, down-to-earth discussion around algorithms and data types for all PHP developers. While it does not shy away from challenging topics, it works hard to keep things friendly and approachable, regardless of current skill level.
Inside the book, you'll find:
- An introduction to Big O notation, time complexities (and how to spot them), recursion, and sometimes even the math behind things,
- Discussions and analysis of well-known (and some lesser-known) algorithms,
- Practical examples and applications of data types and algorithms,
- Fun tangents, side quests, and more!
I'm working in the background to make this project approachable and helpful. If this all interests you, sign up to get notified when I have an initial version available! I'm looking to have the initial version available here around March/April.
In the meantime, happy coding!
About the Author
Hello, internet!
My name is John, and I have over fifteen years of professional software development. I've worked on a wide range of projects over the years, from simple websites and critical government reporting applications all the way to high-performance telematics solutions.
During my downtime, I enjoy working on open-source projects, writing posts on my blog, and contributing to the Laravel and Statamic ecosystems.
Some of the recent open-source projects I've worked on include:
- blade-parser-typescript - a Laravel Blade parser, formatter, reflection library, and linter, written in TypeScript
- Antlers Toolbox - a Visual Studio Code extension providing syntax highlighting, code auto-complete, intelligent refactoring, and project-aware assistance for Statamic developers
- Antlers Runtime - an advanced PHP templating engine for the Statamic CMS platform
- Proteus - a Laravel package that makes it simple to read, write, and modify Laravel configuration files from your application code
- Primitives - a PHP library that safely parses input strings into native PHP types (string, bool, arrays, etc.) and can optionally be configured with a sandbox for method evaluation