August Drupal Meetup - Getting Started with Composer and Drupal 8

Join us at our August Drupal Users Group Meetup.

Presenter: Jeff Cardwell

Topic: Getting Started with Composer and Drupal 8

What is Composer? Why should I care? If we plan on producing Drupal 8 websites, we really should know a bit about Composer. It will be baked into Drupal for the foreseeable future, and the sooner we get started with it, the less pain we’ll be in for.

“Composer is a tool for dependency management in PHP.” If you’re familiar with using Drush “make” files to develop and deploy Drupal websites, then the principles behind Composer will seem like old hat. If you’ve never gotten around to leveraging tools to manage the versions and dependencies of your spiderweb of Drupal modules and code, then there is no better time to start!

I’m going to cover the basics of Composer, including what it is, where it came from, and why we need to use it as a tool. Then we’re going to discuss the current relationship between Composer and Drupal. With an eye towards keeping abreast of the evolving “right” way to do things, we will use the command line to build a new Drupal 8 installation from scratch. Then we’ll take a look at the tools and templates already in place that can make our lives easier… and we’ll build another site using those. This time we’ll look at the differences and discuss some of the best practices we should use going forward.

By the end of the talk, my hope is that you will be able to use Composer on your next Drupal 8 project. You will have a series of commands that you should be able to copy and paste to get you started. I’ll also try to equip you to evaluate some of the development options that using Composer in your workflow can allow.

Our goal is to grow ADUG participation this year by producing great meetups at a consistent time/date/and place to make planning easy for everyone. This will also help us focus on delivering what's important: sharing useful Drupal knowledge with the Austin community.

New to the ADUG and curious about attending or attended before and need a nudge to come back? Well, this is your nudge. Come!

Can't make it in person? You can join us via the live stream. Check back closer to the event for the link.

• • • The Fine Print - - -

When: Doors open at 7, presentation starts at 7:30.
Come early for networking, free pizza, and beer. Stick around after for more networking and drinks!

Where: Capital Factory (Located in the Austin Centre)
701 Brazos Street, 16th floor, Austin, TX

Parking: Downtown parking can be a headache, but it doesn't have to be! You have two handy $5 options:

1. Park at the Omni and get your parking ticket validated at the Capital Factory front desk
2. Park in the Alamo Drafthouse parking garage, conveniently located across the street from Capital Factory on E 7th