Symfony 3.4 certification study "guide"

If you are a working member of our industry getting time to study for the certification is not an easy thing to get started. Where does one start, what order does one study things in? Developers are also lazy.

This does not cover EVERYTHING you may need to study for the certification. It is a simple attempt to be a "guide" for working through content of the Symfony docs in about four weeks, with five (work) days a week, so you can have a plan of action regarding how you work through the documentation and perhaps when you write the certification exam.

More info: https://sensiolabs.com/en/symfony/certification.html

Inspired by the Symfony 3.0 certification guide of [raulconti] (https://github.com/raulconti/symfony-3-certification-guide)

Week One. A quick review

Day 1: PHP

• Object Oriented Programming
  http://php.net/manual/en/language.oop5.php
• Namespaces
  http://www.php.net/manual/en/language.namespaces.php https://knpuniversity.com/screencast/php-namespaces-in-120-seconds/namespaces
• Interfaces
  http://www.php.net/manual/en/language.oop5.interfaces.php
• Anonymous functions and closures
  http://www.php.net/manual/en/functions.anonymous.php
• Abstract classes
  http://www.php.net/manual/en/language.oop5.abstract.php
• Exception and error handling
  https://secure.php.net/manual/en/class.exception.php http://php.net/manual/en/language.exceptions.php
• Traits
  http://php.net/manual/en/language.oop5.traits.php
• PHP extensions
  http://php.net/manual/en/extensions.php
• SPL
  http://php.net/manual/en/book.spl.php
• Web security (XSS, CSRF, etc.)
  http://php.net/manual/en/security.php

---

Day 2: Standardization

• Release management and roadmap schedule
  http://symfony.com/doc/3.4/contributing/community/releases.html
• Framework interoperability and PSRs
  http://www.php-fig.org/psr/
• Naming conventions
  http://symfony.com/doc/3.4/contributing/code/standards.html#naming-conventions
• Coding standards
  http://symfony.com/doc/3.4/contributing/code/standards.html
• Third-party libraries integration
  http://symfony.com/doc/3.4/cookbook/bundles/installation.html
• Composer packages handling
  https://getcomposer.org/doc/00-intro.md#introduction
  http://symfony.com/doc/3.4/cookbook/composer.html
• Development best practices
  http://symfony.com/doc/3.4/cookbook/deployment/tools.html
• Framework overloading
  http://symfony.com/doc/3.4/cookbook/configuration/override_dir_structure.html
  http://symfony.com/doc/3.4/cookbook/bundles/inheritance.html
  http://symfony.com/doc/3.4/cookbook/bundles/override.html
• Semantic versioning
  http://semver.org/

---

Day 3: HTTP

• Client / Server interaction
  http://symfony.com/doc/3.4/book/http_fundamentals.html
• Status codes
  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_HTTP_status_codes
• HTTP request
  http://symfony.com/doc/3.4/components/http_foundation/introduction.html#request
• HTTP response
  http://symfony.com/doc/3.4/components/http_foundation/introduction.html#response
• HTTP methods https://www.w3.org/Protocols/rfc2616/rfc2616-sec9.html
• Cookies
  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HTTP_cookie
  http://symfony.com/doc/3.4/components/http_foundation/introduction.html#setting-cookies
• Caching
  http://symfony.com/doc/3.4/book/http_cache.html
• Content negotiation
  https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/HTTP/Content_negotiation
  http://symfony.com/doc/3.4/components/http_foundation/introduction.html#accessing-accept-headers-data
• Language detection

---

Day 4: HTTP Caching

• Cache types (browser, proxies and reverse proxies)
  http://symfony.com/doc/3.4/book/http_cache.html
• Expiration (Expires, Cache-control)
  http://symfony.com/doc/3.4/http_cache.html#expiration-caching
• Validation (ETag, Last-Modified)
  http://symfony.com/doc/3.4/http_cache.html#validation-caching
• Client side caching
  http://symfony.com/doc/3.4/http_cache.html#caching-with-a-gateway-cache
• Server side caching
  http://symfony.com/doc/3.4/book/http_cache.html#gateway-caches
• Edge Side Includes
  http://symfony.com/doc/3.4/http_cache/esi.html

---

Week Two. Architecture of things.

Day 1: The Basics

• Symfony Standard Edition http://symfony.com/distributions
  https://github.com/symfony/symfony-standard
• License
  http://symfony.com/doc/3.4/contributing/code/license.html
• Code organization
  http://symfony.com/doc/3.4/quick_tour/the_architecture.html#understanding-the-directory-structure
• Official best practices
  http://symfony.com/doc/3.4/best_practices/index.html
• Release management
  http://symfony.com/doc/3.4/contributing/community/releases.html
• Backward compatibility promise
  http://symfony.com/doc/3.4/contributing/code/bc.html
• Deprecations best practices
  http://symfony.com/blog/paving-the-way-for-symfony-3-with-the-deprecation-detector-tool

---

Day 2: Bundles

• Architecture http://symfony.com/doc/3.4/quick_tour/the_architecture.html#understanding-the-bundle-system
• Naming conventions
  http://symfony.com/doc/3.4/cookbook/bundles/best_practices.html#bundle-name
• Code organization
  http://symfony.com/doc/3.4/cookbook/bundles/best_practices.html#directory-structure
• The resources
  http://symfony.com/doc/3.4/best_practices/web-assets.html
• Overriding default error pages
  http://symfony.com/doc/3.4/cookbook/controller/error_pages.html
• Bundle inheritance
  http://symfony.com/doc/3.4/cookbook/bundles/inheritance.html
• Semantic configuration and compiler passes
  http://symfony.com/doc/3.4/cookbook/service_container/compiler_passes.html
  http://symfony.com/doc/3.4/components/dependency_injection/compilation.html

---

Day 3: Controllers

• About controllers http://symfony.com/doc/3.4/book/controller.html
  http://symfony.com/doc/3.4/bundles/best_practices.html#classes
• Naming conventions
  http://symfony.com/doc/3.4/book/routing.html#controller-string-syntax
• The base Controller class
  http://symfony.com/doc/3.4/controller.html#the-base-controller-classes-services
• The request
  http://symfony.com/doc/3.4/components/http_foundation/introduction.html#request
  http://symfony.com/doc/3.4/controller.html#the-request-object-as-a-controller-argument
• The response
  http://symfony.com/doc/3.4/components/http_foundation/introduction.html#response
  http://symfony.com/doc/3.4/controller.html#the-request-and-response-object
• The cookies
  http://symfony.com/doc/3.4/components/http_foundation/introduction.html#setting-cookies
• The session
  http://symfony.com/doc/3.4/book/controller.html#managing-the-session
  http://symfony.com/doc/3.4/components/http_foundation/sessions.html
• The flash messages
  http://symfony.com/doc/3.4/book/controller.html#flash-messages
  http://symfony.com/doc/3.4/components/http_foundation/sessions.html#flash-messages
• HTTP redirects
  http://symfony.com/doc/3.4/book/controller.html#redirecting
• Internal redirects
  http://symfony.com/doc/3.4/controller/forwarding.html
• Generate 404 pages
  http://symfony.com/doc/3.4/book/controller.html#managing-errors-and-404-pages
  http://symfony.com/doc/3.4/controller/error_pages.html http://symfony.com/doc/3.4/controller/error_pages.html#overriding-the-default-exceptioncontroller
• File upload
  http://symfony.com/doc/3.4/cookbook/controller/upload_file.html
• Built-in internal controllers
  http://symfony.com/doc/3.4/controller.html#the-base-controller-classes-services

---

Day 4: Components

• Using components http://symfony.com/doc/3.4/components/using_components.html
• DependencyInjection component http://symfony.com/doc/3.4/components/dependency_injection.html
• Serializer component http://symfony.com/doc/3.4/components/serializer.html
• Asset component http://symfony.com/doc/3.4/components/asset.html
• Console component http://symfony.com/doc/3.4/components/console.html
• EventDispatcher component http://symfony.com/doc/3.4/components/event_dispatcher.html
• Form component http://symfony.com/doc/3.4/components/form.html
• HttpFoundation component http://symfony.com/doc/3.4/components/http_foundation.html
• HttpKernel component http://symfony.com/doc/3.4/components/http_kernel.html
• Translation component http://symfony.com/doc/3.4/components/translation.html
• Yaml component http://symfony.com/doc/3.4/components/yaml.html

---

Day 5: Configuring Requests

• Configuration
  http://symfony.com/doc/3.4/quick_tour/the_architecture.html
  http://symfony.com/doc/3.4/cookbook/configuration/index.html
  http://symfony.com/doc/3.4/cookbook/bundles/best_practices.html#configuration
  http://symfony.com/doc/3.4/cookbook/bundles/extension.html
• Request handling
  http://symfony.com/doc/3.4/book/http_fundamentals.html#the-journey-from-the-request-to-the-response
• Exception handling
  http://symfony.com/doc/3.4/cookbook/controller/error_pages.html
• Event dispatcher and kernel events
  http://symfony.com/doc/3.4/components/event_dispatcher/introduction.html
  http://symfony.com/doc/3.4/components/http_kernel/introduction.html
• Bridges http://stackoverflow.com/questions/11888522/what-are-symfony-bridges-bundles-and-vendor

---

Week Three. User interaction.

Day 1: Routing

• Configuration (YAML / XML / PHP & annotations)
  http://symfony.com/doc/3.4/routing.html#routing-examples
• Restrict routes through conditions
  http://symfony.com/doc/3.4/routing/conditions.html
• Set default values to URL parameters
  http://symfony.com/doc/3.4/routing.html#giving-placeholders-a-default-value
• Generate URL parameters
  http://symfony.com/doc/3.4/routing.html#generating-urls
• Trigger redirects
  http://symfony.com/doc/3.4/book/controller.html#redirecting
  http://symfony.com/doc/3.4/cookbook/routing/redirect_in_config.html
• Special internal routing attributes
  http://symfony.com/doc/3.4/cookbook/routing/extra_information.html
• Domain name matching
  http://symfony.com/doc/3.4/components/routing/hostname_pattern.html
• HTTP methods matching
  http://symfony.com/doc/3.4/cookbook/routing/method_parameters.html
• User's locale guessing
  http://symfony.com/doc/3.4/reference/forms/types/locale.html
• Router debugging
  http://symfony.com/doc/3.4/routing/debug.html

---

Day 2: Event dispatcher and kernel events

• Creating event listeners http://symfony.com/doc/3.4/event_dispatcher.html#creating-an-event-listener
• Create event subscribers http://symfony.com/doc/3.4/event_dispatcher.html#creating-an-event-subscriber
• Request events http://symfony.com/doc/3.4/event_dispatcher.html#request-events-checking-types
• Listeners vs subscribers http://symfony.com/doc/3.4/event_dispatcher.html#listeners-or-subscribers
• Debugging http://symfony.com/doc/3.4/event_dispatcher.html#debugging-event-listeners

---

Day 3: The view

• Twig basics http://symfony.com/doc/3.4/quick_tour/the_view.html#getting-familiar-with-twig
• Decorating templates http://symfony.com/doc/3.4/quick_tour/the_view.html#decorating-templates
• Tags, filters and functions http://symfony.com/doc/3.4/quick_tour/the_view.html#using-tags-filters-and-functions
• Including templates http://symfony.com/doc/3.4/quick_tour/the_view.html#including-other-templates
• Embedding controllers http://symfony.com/doc/3.4/quick_tour/the_view.html#embedding-other-controllers
• Links between pages http://symfony.com/doc/3.4/quick_tour/the_view.html#creating-links-between-pages
• Including assets http://symfony.com/doc/3.4/quick_tour/the_view.html#including-assets-images-javascripts-and-stylesheets

---

Day 4: Templating with Twig

• Auto escaping
  http://twig.sensiolabs.org/doc/tags/autoescape.html http://symfony.com/doc/3.4/templating.html#output-escaping
• Template inheritance
  http://twig.sensiolabs.org/doc/tags/extends.html
  http://twig.sensiolabs.org/doc/templates.html#template-inheritance
  http://symfony.com/doc/3.4/book/templating.html#template-inheritance-and-layouts
• Global variables
  http://symfony.com/doc/3.4/cookbook/templating/global_variables.html
• Filters and functions
  http://twig.sensiolabs.org/doc/filters/index.html
  http://symfony.com/doc/3.4/cookbook/templating/twig_extension.html
• Template includes
  http://twig.sensiolabs.org/doc/tags/include.html
• Loops and conditions
  http://twig.sensiolabs.org/doc/tags/for.html
  http://twig.sensiolabs.org/doc/tags/if.html
• Urls generation
  http://symfony.com/doc/3.4/book/routing.html#generating-urls-from-a-template
  http://symfony.com/doc/3.4/book/templating.html#linking-to-pages
• Controller rendering
  http://symfony.com/doc/3.4/templating/embedding_controllers.html
• Translations and pluralization
  http://symfony.com/doc/3.4/book/translation.html#translations-in-templates
• String interpolation
  http://twig.sensiolabs.org/doc/templates.html#string-interpolation
• Assets management
  http://symfony.com/doc/3.4/best_practices/web-assets.html
• Debugging variables
  http://twig.sensiolabs.org/doc/functions/dump.html

---

Day 5: Forms

• Forms creation
  http://symfony.com/doc/3.4/book/forms.html#creating-a-simple-form
• Forms handling
  http://symfony.com/doc/3.4/book/forms.html#handling-form-submissions
  http://symfony.com/doc/3.4/best_practices/forms.html#handling-form-submits
• Form types
  http://symfony.com/doc/3.4/book/forms.html#creating-form-classes
  http://symfony.com/doc/3.4/book/forms.html#built-in-field-types
• Forms rendering with Twig
  http://symfony.com/doc/3.4/forms.html#building-the-form http://symfony.com/doc/3.4/forms.html#rendering-the-form
• Forms theming
  http://symfony.com/doc/3.4/cookbook/form/form_customization.html#what-are-form-themes
  http://symfony.com/doc/3.4/form/form_themes.html http://symfony.com/doc/3.4/form/bootstrap4.html
• CSRF protection
  http://symfony.com/doc/3.4/form/csrf_protection.html
• Handling file upload
  http://symfony.com/doc/3.4/reference/forms/types/file.html#basic-usage http://symfony.com/doc/3.4/controller/upload_file.html
• Built-in form types
  http://symfony.com/doc/3.4/reference/forms/types.html
• Data transformers
  http://symfony.com/doc/3.4/cookbook/form/data_transformers.html
• Form events
  http://symfony.com/doc/3.4/components/form/form_events.html
  http://symfony.com/doc/3.4/cookbook/form/dynamic_form_modification.html
• Form type extensions
  http://symfony.com/doc/3.4/cookbook/form/create_form_type_extension.html

---

Week Four. Low level control.

Day 1: Data Validation

• PHP object validation
  http://symfony.com/doc/3.4/book/validation.html#the-basics-of-validation
• Built-in validation constraints
  http://symfony.com/doc/3.4/reference/constraints.html
• Validation scopes
  http://symfony.com/doc/3.4/validation/custom_constraint.html#class-constraint-validator
• Validation groups
  http://symfony.com/doc/3.4/book/validation.html#validation-groups
• Group sequence
  http://symfony.com/doc/3.4/validation/sequence_provider.html
• Custom callback validators
  http://symfony.com/doc/3.4/cookbook/validation/custom_constraint.html http://symfony.com/doc/3.4/reference/constraints/Callback.html
  https://knpuniversity.com/screencast/question-answer-day/custom-validation-property-path
• Violations builder
  http://symfony.com/doc/3.4/cookbook/validation/custom_constraint.html#creating-the-validator-itself

---

Day 2: Dependency Injection

• Service container
  http://symfony.com/doc/3.4/book/service_container.html
• Built-in services
  http://symfony.com/doc/3.4/service_container.html#choose-a-specific-service
• Configuration parameters
  http://symfony.com/doc/3.4/components/dependency_injection/parameters.html http://symfony.com/doc/3.4/service_container/parameters.html#getting-and-setting-container-parameters-in-php http://symfony.com/doc/3.4/service_container/parameters.html#environment-variables-and-dynamic-values
  http://symfony.com/doc/3.4/components/dependency_injection/introduction.html#setting-up-the-container-with-configuration-files
• Services registration
  http://symfony.com/doc/3.4/book/service_container.html#creating-configuring-services-in-the-container
• Tags
  http://symfony.com/doc/3.4/service_container/tags.html
• Semantic configuration
  http://symfony.com/doc/3.4/cookbook/bundles/extension.html
• Factories
  http://symfony.com/doc/3.4/components/dependency_injection/factories.html
• Compiler passes
  http://symfony.com/doc/3.4/cookbook/service_container/compiler_passes.html
  http://symfony.com/doc/3.4/components/dependency_injection/compilation.html
• Services autowiring
  http://symfony.com/doc/3.4/components/dependency_injection/autowiring.html

---

Day 3: Security

• Authentication
  http://symfony.com/doc/3.4/components/security/authentication.html
  http://symfony.com/doc/3.4/book/security.html#how-security-works-authentication-and-authorization http://symfony.com/doc/3.4/cookbook/security/index.html#authentication-identifying-logging-in-the-user
• Authorization
  http://symfony.com/doc/3.4/components/security/authorization.html
  http://symfony.com/doc/3.4/book/security.html#authorization http://symfony.com/doc/3.4/cookbook/security/index.html#authorization-denying-access
• Configuration
  http://symfony.com/doc/3.4/reference/configuration/security.html
• Providers
  http://symfony.com/doc/3.4/book/security.html#where-do-users-come-from-user-providers
• Firewalls
  http://symfony.com/doc/3.4/book/security.html#firewalls-authentication
  http://symfony.com/doc/3.4/components/security/firewall.html
• Users
  http://symfony.com/doc/3.4/security.html#b-configuring-how-users-are-loaded http://symfony.com/doc/3.4/security.html#loading-users-from-the-database http://symfony.com/doc/3.4/security/entity_provider.html
• Passwords encoders
  http://symfony.com/doc/3.4/book/security.html#encoding-the-user-s-password
• Roles
  http://symfony.com/doc/3.4/components/security/authorization.html#roles
  http://symfony.com/doc/3.4/book/security.html#roles
• Access Control Rules
  http://symfony.com/doc/3.4/book/security.html#access-control-in-templates
  http://symfony.com/doc/3.4/security.html#access-control-lists-acls-securing-individual-database-objects
• Guard authenticators
  http://symfony.com/doc/3.4/cookbook/security/guard-authentication.html
  https://knpuniversity.com/screencast/guard
• Voters and voting strategies
  http://symfony.com/doc/3.4/components/security/authorization.html#voters http://symfony.com/doc/3.4/components/security/authorization.html#access-decision-manager
  http://symfony.com/doc/3.4/cookbook/security/voters.html

---

Day 4: Console

• Built-in commands
  http://symfony.com/doc/3.4/components/console/usage.html#built-in-commands
• Custom commands
  http://symfony.com/doc/3.4/components/console.html#creating-a-console-application http://symfony.com/doc/3.4/console/coloring.html
• Configuration
  http://symfony.com/doc/3.4/console.html#configuring-the-command
• Options and arguments
  http://symfony.com/doc/3.4/console/input.html#using-command-arguments http://symfony.com/doc/3.4/console/input.html#using-command-options http://symfony.com/doc/3.4/components/console/console_arguments.html
• Input and Output objects
  http://symfony.com/doc/3.4/console.html#console-input http://symfony.com/doc/3.4/console.html#executing-the-command
• Built-in helpers
  http://symfony.com/doc/3.4/components/console/helpers/index.html
• Console events
  http://symfony.com/doc/3.4/components/console/events.html
• Verbosity levels
  http://symfony.com/doc/3.4/console/verbosity.html

---

Day 5: Automated tests

• Unit tests with PHPUnit
  http://symfony.com/doc/3.4/book/testing.html#the-phpunit-testing-framework
• Functional tests with PHPUnit
  http://symfony.com/doc/3.4/book/testing.html#functional-tests
• Client object
  http://symfony.com/doc/3.4/book/testing.html#working-with-the-test-client
• Crawler object
  http://symfony.com/doc/3.4/book/testing.html#the-crawler
• Profile object
  http://symfony.com/doc/3.4/book/testing.html#accessing-the-profiler-data
  http://symfony.com/doc/3.4/cookbook/testing/profiling.html
• Framework objects access
  http://symfony.com/doc/3.4/book/testing.html#accessing-internal-objects
  http://symfony.com/doc/3.4/book/testing.html#accessing-the-container
• Client configuration
  http://symfony.com/doc/3.4/book/testing.html#testing-configuration
• Request and response objects introspection
  http://symfony.com/doc/3.4/book/testing.html#accessing-internal-objects
• PHPUnit bridge
  http://symfony.com/doc/3.4/components/phpunit_bridge.html
• Handling legacy deprecated code
  http://symfony.com/doc/3.4/components/phpunit_bridge.html#mark-tests-as-legacy

---

Week Five. Miscellaneous

• Error handling
  http://symfony.com/doc/3.4/cookbook/controller/error_pages.html
• Code debugging
  http://symfony.com/doc/3.4/cookbook/debugging.html
• Deployment best practices
  http://symfony.com/doc/3.4/cookbook/deployment/tools.html
• Process
  http://symfony.com/doc/3.4/components/process.html
• Serializer
  http://symfony.com/doc/3.4/serializer.html
  http://symfony.com/doc/3.4/components/serializer.html
• Data collectors https://symfony.com/doc/3.4/profiler/data_collector.html
• Web Profiler and Web Debug Toolbar
  https://symfony.com/blog/new-in-symfony-3-1-web-debug-toolbar-and-profiler-enhancements http://symfony.com/doc/3.4/reference/configuration/web_profiler.html
• Internationalization and localization http://symfony.com/doc/3.4/translation.html
  http://symfony.com/doc/3.4/best_practices/i18n.html