Debugging: Demystified

We have more and more code, whether written by humans or generated by AI agents. Someone has to understand, maintain, and debug this code. Anyone who still relies on var_dump() and guesswork is wasting valuable time.

In this training course, you will learn systematic debugging with Xdebug and PhpStorm. We will go through all phases of the bug life cycle: reproducing bugs, diagnosing causes, implementing solutions, and ensuring that they are permanent. Whether it is your own code or AI-generated, you will find and understand the problem.

• Systematically reproduce, diagnose, and fix bugs in PHP code
• Set up Xdebug and PhpStorm and use them as your daily debugging toolkit
• Execute code step by step while monitoring program state
• Visualise object graphs to understand the state of complex programs
• Analyse performance issues with benchmarking, tracing, and profiling instead of guessing
• Write and structure code so that bugs are easier to find

• PHP developers who still mostly debug with var_dump() or print_r()
• Developers who need to understand and maintain AI-generated code
• Teams that want to professionalise their debugging workflows

You should have several months of experience programming in PHP or a similar programming language. To participate in the hands-on exercises, you will need a current version of the PHP command-line interpreter with the Xdebug extension, as well as PhpStorm.

• Classify PHP error types and choose the right debugging strategy
• Set up Xdebug in your development environment and use it routinely
• Use breakpoints, step debugging, and variable inspection effectively
• Integrate debugging workflows into your existing development processes
• Write code that is easier to debug and test