Workshop on Full-Stack Web Development Using PHP and MySQL

The Council of Computer Department Engineering Students (C-CODES), in association with the Department of Computer Engineering, Don Bosco College of Engineering, Goa, organized a two-day technical workshop for Second Year Computer Engineering students on 5 and 6 March 2026. The workshop focused on Full-Stack Web Development using PHP and MySQL and aimed to introduce students to the process of building dynamic, database-driven web applications.

The session was conducted by Mr. Wiseman Fernandes, Technical Architect, and coordinated by faculty members Prof. Amey Tilve and Prof. Floyd Avina Fernandes. The workshop was designed to provide students with practical exposure to modern web development tools, project architecture, and secure coding practices.

The first day of the workshop focused on setting up the development environment and understanding the core infrastructure required for web applications. Students learned to configure a local development environment using the XAMPP Control Panel, enabling Apache as the web server and MySQL as the database management system. Using phpMyAdmin, participants created a database titled “studentproj” and designed a users table to store registration information. The resource person also introduced Composer, a dependency management tool widely used in PHP development. Students were shown how the phpdotenv package can be used to manage environment variables, ensuring that sensitive database credentials are stored securely outside the main source code.

The second day emphasized application logic and the professional workflow involved in software development. Mr. Fernandes explained the Software Development Life Cycle (SDLC), highlighting key phases such as planning, design, development, testing, deployment, and maintenance. Students were then guided through the process of building a functional user signup system.

The session demonstrated the four fundamental database operations commonly referred to as CRUD: Create, Read, Update, and Delete. Students developed a signup form to insert user data into the database, displayed stored records on a dashboard, implemented functionality to update user information, and created scripts to delete records when necessary. The workshop also stressed the importance of input validation and basic security practices to prevent issues such as SQL injection and to maintain data integrity.

The workshop concluded with a demonstration of the working web project developed during the session. The initiative provided students with valuable hands-on experience in building and managing web applications while introducing them to professional software development practices. Through the guidance of Mr. Wiseman Fernandes and the coordination of the faculty members, the workshop successfully enhanced students’ understanding of full-stack web development and modern programming workflows.