Are there any specific best practices that beginners should follow when writing PHP code?

Beginners writing PHP code should follow best practices such as using proper indentation, commenting their code for clarity, and following naming conventions. It's also important to avoid using deprecated functions and to sanitize user input to prevent security vulnerabilities.

<?php

// Example of proper indentation and commenting
function calculateSum($num1, $num2) {
    // Add two numbers and return the result
    return $num1 + $num2;
}

// Example of using naming conventions
$first_name = "John";
$last_name = "Doe";

// Example of sanitizing user input
$user_input = $_POST['user_input'];
$sanitized_input = htmlspecialchars($user_input);

?>