What best practices should be followed when setting and accessing session variables in PHP to avoid errors like the timer remaining at zero?

When setting and accessing session variables in PHP, it is important to make sure that the session is started before trying to access or set any variables. This can be done using session_start() at the beginning of the script. Additionally, always check if the session variable exists before trying to access it to avoid errors like the timer remaining at zero.

<?php
// Start the session
session_start();

// Check if the session variable exists and set it if it doesn't
if (!isset($_SESSION['timer'])) {
    $_SESSION['timer'] = 0;
}

// Access the session variable
echo "Timer: " . $_SESSION['timer'];

// Update the session variable
$_SESSION['timer']++;
?>