Hints policy

Hints should restart a learner's reasoning without pasting the solution. Add them when a likely sticking point is not the skill being tested.

Order hints from least revealing to most specific: point back to the concept, name the relevant PHP API or boundary, then suggest the shape of the next step. If a hint needs to introduce an API that the article never taught, fix the lesson or narrow the task.

Practical Example

<?php

declare(strict_types=1);

$hints = [
    'first' => 'Think about the input shape.',
    'second' => 'Try a foreach loop.',
    'final' => 'Compare your output with the expected line.',
];

echo $hints['first'] . PHP_EOL;

// Prints:
// Think about the input shape.

For an array-filtering exercise, an early hint can say “decide which records should remain.” A later hint can name array_filter(). Do not paste the callback if writing it is the skill under review.