What are the best practices for handling user authentication and data transmission between different PHP programs within a web application?

When handling user authentication and data transmission between different PHP programs within a web application, it is important to use secure methods such as hashing passwords, using HTTPS for data transmission, and implementing session management to keep track of user authentication.

// Example of hashing passwords using bcrypt
$password = 'secretPassword';
$hashedPassword = password_hash($password, PASSWORD_BCRYPT);

// Example of verifying hashed password
if (password_verify($password, $hashedPassword)) {
    echo 'Password is valid!';
} else {
    echo 'Invalid password.';
}

// Example of setting up HTTPS for secure data transmission
// Add this line at the beginning of your PHP script
if ($_SERVER['HTTPS'] != 'on') {
    header('Location: https://' . $_SERVER['HTTP_HOST'] . $_SERVER['REQUEST_URI']);
    exit();
}

// Example of implementing session management for user authentication
session_start();

// Check if user is logged in
if (isset($_SESSION['user_id'])) {
    echo 'User is logged in.';
} else {
    echo 'User is not logged in.';
}