README

An educational platform where you learn backend development by debugging intentionally broken code.

Learn by fixing real bugs in routing, middleware, authentication, database, and session handling.

🎯 What is DALT.PHP?

DALT.PHP is an interactive debugging playground that teaches web framework concepts through hands-on practice:

5 comprehensive lessons explaining backend fundamentals
5 broken challenges with realistic bugs to fix
Automatic verification with instant feedback
Modern stack: PHP 8+, Vue 3, Tailwind CSS v4, SQLite

🚀 Quick Start

For New Projects (Recommended)

# Create a new project
composer create-project ibnuafdel/daltphp my-dalt-project --stability=beta --remove-vcs

cd my-dalt-project

# Install dependencies
composer install
npm install

# Start development
php artisan serve    # Backend: http://localhost:8000
npm run dev          # Frontend: http://localhost:5173

For Development/Contributing

# Clone the repository
git clone https://github.com/Ibnu-Afdel/DALT.PHP.git
cd DALT.PHP

# Install dependencies
composer install
npm install

# Setup environment
cp .env.example .env
php artisan migrate

# Start servers
php artisan serve    # Backend: http://localhost:8000
npm run dev          # Frontend: http://localhost:5173

🎓 Two Ways to Use DALT.PHP

1. As a Learning Platform (Default)

Visit /learn to browse lessons and challenges with the interactive UI, or use the CLI:

# List available challenges
php artisan challenge:list

# Start a challenge
php artisan challenge:start broken-routing

# Verify your fix
php artisan challenge:verify

# View progress
cat storage/logs/challenges.log

2. As a Clean Micro-Framework

Want to use DALT as a standalone framework after completing the course? Remove the learning platform:

# Remove learning platform (converts to clean framework)
php artisan platform:remove

This command will:

Remove the .dalt/ directory (learning platform)
Clean up package.json and composer.json
Create a minimal README for framework usage
Keep all framework core functionality intact

The framework core (framework/Core/) works independently and will continue to function after removal.

📚 Learning Path

Visit /learn - Browse all lessons and challenges
Read a lesson - Understand the concepts (e.g., routing, middleware)
Try a challenge - Debug broken code in your editor
Run verification - Click "Run Verification" or use CLI: php artisan verify broken-routing
Get feedback - See which tests pass/fail with helpful hints
Fix and repeat - Keep debugging until all tests pass!

🐛 Available Challenges

Challenge	Difficulty	Bugs	Concept
Broken Routing	Easy	2	Route order and registration
Broken Middleware	Medium	2	Auth checks and CSRF validation
Broken Authentication	Easy	1	Password verification
Broken Database	Medium	2	SQL injection prevention
Broken Session	Medium	2	Flash data handling

🎓 Features

Interactive Web Interface

Browse lessons and challenges at /learn
Read beautifully formatted markdown lessons
Run verifications directly from the browser
Get instant visual feedback with test results

CLI Verification

# Verify a challenge
php artisan verify broken-routing

# View progress logs
cat storage/logs/challenges.log

Stop challenge and restore clean app

php artisan challenge:stop

View progress logs

cat storage/logs/challenges.log


### Automatic Testing
- 19 automated tests across all challenges
- Detailed pass/fail results
- Helpful hints for failures
- Progress tracking

## 📁 Project Structure

.dalt/ # Platform internals (learning UI & assets) course/ # Learning content (lessons + challenges) lessons/ # 5 lesson markdown files challenges/ # 5 broken challenge folders broken-routing/ broken-middleware/ broken-auth/ broken-database/ broken-session/ Http/controllers/ # Learning UI controllers resources/ # Platform assets & views routes/ # Platform routes scripts/ # Setup scripts stubs/ # Code templates app/Http/controllers/ # Your controllers (start building here) config/ # Configuration files database/ # SQLite database and migrations framework/Core/ # Framework core (Router, DB, Session, etc.) public/ # Web root (index.php entry point) routes/routes.php # Your route definitions storage/ # Logs and runtime files tests/ # Testing suite


**Note**: When you install via Composer, development-only files (like internal docs) are automatically excluded.

## 🛠️ Tech Stack

- **Backend**: PHP 8+ with custom micro-framework
- **Frontend**: Vue 3 + Tailwind CSS v4 + Vite
- **Database**: SQLite (Postgres/MySQL ready)
- **Testing**: Custom verification system

## 📖 Documentation

- [Testing Guide](TESTING_GUIDE.md) - Complete testing instructions
- [Framework Architecture](docs/FRAMEWORK_ARCHITECTURE.md) - How the framework works
- [Project Architecture](docs/PROJECT_ARCHITECTURE.md) - Overall system design
- [Verification System](docs/VERIFICATION_SYSTEM.md) - How verification works
- [Milestone Summaries](docs/) - Development progress

## 🎯 Learning Objectives

After completing DALT.PHP, you'll understand:
- HTTP request lifecycle in web frameworks
- Routing and URL-to-controller mapping
- Middleware and request filtering
- Authentication and password security
- Database queries and SQL injection prevention
- Session management and flash data
- Common backend bugs and how to fix them

## 🤝 Contributing

We welcome contributions! Whether you want to:
- Add new challenges or lessons
- Improve documentation
- Fix bugs or add features
- Enhance the UI

Please read our [Contributing Guide](CONTRIBUTING.md) for details on our code of conduct and the process for submitting pull requests.

## 🔒 Security

Found a security vulnerability? Please review our [Security Policy](SECURITY.md) for responsible disclosure guidelines.

## 📝 License

MIT License - see the [LICENSE](LICENSE) file for details.

## 📖 Documentation

- [CHANGELOG](CHANGELOG.md) - Version history and changes
- [CONTRIBUTING](CONTRIBUTING.md) - How to contribute
- [SECURITY](SECURITY.md) - Security policy and reporting
- [TESTING_GUIDE](TESTING_GUIDE.md) - Complete testing instructions

## 🔗 Links

- [GitHub](https://github.com/Ibnu-Afdel/DALT.PHP)
- [Telegram Community](https://t.me/daltphp)

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**Start learning backend development the practical way** - by debugging real code! 🐛🔧

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