The Scotch.io site has posted a guide that can help you if you're just getting started in the world of PHP packages via Composer. In this new tutorial Daniel Pataki introduces you to the tool and how to use it to install the dependencies you need.

I’m sure there are plenty of coders out there who are wondering about the benefits of using composer and many who are afraid to make the leap into a new system. In this article we’ll take a look at what exactly Composer is, what it does and why it is a great tool for PHP projects.

He starts with the basics of dependency management, why it would be used in a project and how it automates the installation and integration of 3rd party libraries. From there he helps you get Composer installed and starts in on a sample "composer.json" configuration file. In his example he installs Monolog, the popular PHP logging class. He talks some about how to specify versions, locking down the dependency versions to install and installing "developer only" requirements.