HolyPHP Guide for Beginners
Learn HolyPHP from scratch, one chapter at a time. No prior experience required.
About HolyPHP: A compiled, memory-safe programming language with the soul of PHP and the discipline of Rust.
Write like PHP, compile to native machine code with compile-time borrow checking.
Table of Contents
Learning path: Chapters 1–9 build the foundations in order. Then continue in the
Interactive Guide for control flow, functions, arrays, classes,
ownership, borrowing and application-sized examples. The language
reference is the companion when you need exact syntax.
Part 1: Getting Started
- What is HolyPHP? — Understanding the language
- Installation & Setup — Get the compiler running
- Hello, World! — Your first program
- Using the Playground — Code online
Part 2: The Basics
- What are Variables? — Storing data
- Data Types — int, float, string, bool, and more
- Operators — Doing calculations and comparisons
- Input and Output — Communicating with the user
- Comments — Documenting your code
Continue with the Interactive Guide
These topics have hands-on lessons in the Interactive Guide. Each lesson explains the concept, shows a complete example and points to the relevant reference page.
Control flow
Conditions, loops, foreach and match.
Functions
Typed parameters, return values and reusable logic.
Arrays and maps
Lists, keyed values, iteration and copy-on-write behavior.
Classes and objects
Properties, methods and visibility.
Ownership and borrowing
How compile-time checks help control references and mutation.
Libraries and applications
Continue into the GUI, async, thread and IDE libraries.
Reference and practice
Use the Language Reference for syntax and semantics, Examples for complete programs, and the Playground to experiment without a local setup.