Architect

Level: Architect | Docker: php:8.3-cli | All labs Docker-verified

This track covers advanced PHP internals, concurrency, security, distributed systems patterns, and production platform engineering. Every lab includes Docker-verified code examples with real output.

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Prerequisites

• PHP 8.1+ concepts (match, enums, fibers, attributes)

• Familiarity with design patterns (DDD, SOLID)

• Basic SQL and SQLite knowledge

• Docker installed locally

Quick Start

# Start Docker environment
docker run -it --rm php:8.3-cli bash

# Verify environment
php -v
php -m | grep -E 'OPcache|sodium|PDO'

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Lab Index

#	Lab	Topics	Time
01	PHP Internals & Zend Engine	OPcache, zval, CoW, tokenizer	60 min
02	JIT Compiler	PHP 8 JIT modes, benchmarks, opcache.jit=1255	60 min
03	Fiber Internals	Fibers, cooperative scheduler, async simulation	60 min
04	FFI C Bindings	FFI::cdef(), libc, structs, pointers, callbacks	60 min
05	Custom Stream Wrappers	stream_wrapper_register, SQLite-backed db://	60 min
06	SPL Advanced	SplFixedArray, heaps, priority queues, iterators	60 min
07	Reflection & Code Generation	ReflectionClass, Attributes, DI container, proxies	60 min
08	Advanced Security	libsodium: XSalsa20, Ed25519, Argon2id, BLAKE2b	60 min
09	Async with Amp v3	Future, async(), delay(), cancellation	60 min
10	Event Sourcing	EventStore, aggregates, projections, snapshots	60 min
11	Distributed Patterns	Circuit breaker, retry, rate limiter, bulkhead	60 min
12	gRPC PHP	Proto3 messages, client stub, metadata, interceptors	60 min
13	Observability	OpenTelemetry, spans, metrics, Monolog JSON	60 min
14	Performance Profiling	OPcache tuning, benchmarks, memory profiling	60 min
15	Capstone Platform	Full integration + PHPUnit 10 (7 tests)	90 min

Total: ~870 minutes (~14.5 hours)

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Learning Path

Week 1: Internals & Runtime
  Lab 01 → PHP Internals (zval, CoW, tokenizer)
  Lab 02 → JIT Compiler (benchmarks, modes)
  Lab 14 → Performance Profiling (OPcache, memory)

Week 2: Concurrency & Systems Programming
  Lab 03 → Fibers (cooperative scheduling)
  Lab 04 → FFI (C bindings, libc)
  Lab 05 → Stream Wrappers (custom protocols)
  Lab 09 → Async with Amp v3

Week 3: Data Structures & Metaprogramming
  Lab 06 → SPL (heaps, iterators, memory-efficient structs)
  Lab 07 → Reflection (DI container, code generation)

Week 4: Security & Distributed Systems
  Lab 08 → libsodium (Ed25519, Argon2id, XSalsa20)
  Lab 10 → Event Sourcing (CQRS, EventStore, projections)
  Lab 11 → Distributed Patterns (circuit breaker, rate limiter)

Week 5: Platform Engineering
  Lab 12 → gRPC (proto3, interceptors, metadata)
  Lab 13 → Observability (OpenTelemetry, Prometheus, Monolog)
  Lab 15 → Capstone (production platform, PHPUnit 10)

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Key Skills Developed

PHP Runtime Mastery

• Zend Engine internals: zval types, copy-on-write memory model

• OPcache configuration for production (validate_timestamps, preloading)

• JIT compiler modes (function JIT 1255, tracing JIT 1205) and when to use each

• Performance profiling with hrtime(), memory_get_usage(), custom benchmarking

Systems Programming

• PHP FFI: calling C libraries (libc), struct manipulation, memory management

• Custom stream wrappers: transparent protocol implementation

• Fiber-based cooperative multitasking without external frameworks

Concurrency & Async

• PHP 8.1 Fibers: lifecycle, scheduling, error propagation

• Amp v3: Future, async(), delay(), cancellation tokens

• Cooperative scheduler implementation from scratch

Security Engineering

• libsodium: authenticated encryption (XSalsa20-Poly1305), digital signatures (Ed25519)

• Key derivation: Argon2id with INTERACTIVE/SENSITIVE parameters

• Secure token systems: Ed25519-signed, encrypted JWT-style tokens

• Constant-time comparison, memory zeroing with sodium_memzero

Distributed Systems

• Event Sourcing: append-only event store, aggregate reconstitution, projections, snapshots

• Circuit breaker: Closed/Open/HalfOpen state machine with configurable thresholds

• Retry with exponential backoff and full jitter

• Token bucket rate limiter, bulkhead pattern, distributed locking

Platform Engineering

• OpenTelemetry: TracerProvider, span hierarchies, W3C context propagation

• gRPC: proto3 message design, client stubs, interceptor chains, status codes

• Reflection-based DI container with constructor autowiring

• PHPUnit 10 testing: unit tests for all platform components

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Docker Reference

# Basic PHP execution
docker run --rm php:8.3-cli php -r "echo PHP_VERSION;"

# Multi-line script
docker run --rm php:8.3-cli bash -c "cat > /tmp/script.php << 'EOF'
<?php echo 'Hello';
EOF
php /tmp/script.php"

# With Composer packages
docker run --rm php:8.3-cli bash -c "
  apt-get update -qq && apt-get install -y -q curl unzip
  curl -sS https://getcomposer.org/installer | php -- --install-dir=/usr/local/bin --filename=composer
  mkdir /app && cd /app
  composer require amphp/amp:^3.0 --no-interaction -q
  php script.php
"

# With OPcache enabled (CLI)
docker run --rm php:8.3-cli php \
  -d opcache.enable_cli=1 \
  -d opcache.jit_buffer_size=128M \
  -d opcache.jit=1255 \
  script.php

# Run PHPUnit tests
docker run --rm php:8.3-cli bash -c "
  cd /app && ./vendor/bin/phpunit tests/ --no-configuration
"

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Extension Availability in php:8.3-cli

Extension	Available	Notes
OPcache	✓	php -d opcache.enable_cli=1
sodium	✓	Built-in since PHP 7.2
PDO + pdo_sqlite	✓	SQLite available
Fibers	✓	PHP 8.1+ core
FFI	✗	Needs --with-ffi compile flag; use php:8.3-fpm
grpc	✗	Install via pecl
xhprof	✗	Install via pecl

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References

• PHP Internals Book

• OpenTelemetry PHP

• Amp v3 Documentation

• libsodium PHP Manual

• PHP FFI Manual

• PHPUnit 10 Docs