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Over on the Zend Developer Zone today, there's a newly posted interview with Chris Hartjes a developer and speaker in the PHP community.
I first met Chris Hartjes at php|works in Toronto where he was giving his What Can PHP Learn From Ruby on Rails talk. As I described him in one of my blogs from php|works, he looks like a biker with a laptop. He's large but he's always got a smile on his face and is always available to help if you've got PHP questions. Chris was kind enough to sit down with me and spend some time talking about PHP and his work at VerticalScope . Here's how our conversation went.
They talk about how Chris got into programming (including his first computer), his work with vBulletin, a little MySQL discussion, and some thoughts on PHP6.
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Company
HedgeCo Networks
Location
West Palm Beach, FL
Title
Web Design/Programming Intern
Summary
This internship is ideal for someone studying graphic design, programming, or looking to expand his/her career in the field of web development and ecommerce.
We will and have in the past looked to our interns for full time positions with our firm. This is an unpaid program with incredible learning experience.
Please send your resume to Aaron Wormus to apply for the position
Link
More Information
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A note about a new framework that's been release was passed along to us today the WebMesh framework PHP5.
WebMesh is a framework developed to serve of base for the creation of projects with PHP5. It offer an API with various abstractions to facilitate the application development and a module implementing the MVC pattern (Model2) using Smarty in the View.
Some of the goals for the framework include:
Force a better organization of the your project classes
Encorage the usage of the PHP version 5
Becomes it a collaborative framework where others can contribute with new classes, abstrations, libraries, modules or frameworks to be integrated
You can check out all the details on the new framework on its SourceForge page.
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Company
Yahoo!
Location
at Yahoo!
Title
PHP/LAMP Developers
Summary
In order to maintain our position as the one of the world's most trafficked internet destinations, we're always on the lookout for people with big ideas and big talent to help us provide our visitors with the innovative products and services they've come to expect from Yahoo! We're looking for people like you.
We are currently seeking highly talented mid to senior level PHP/LAMP professionals to join our team. All positions are full time, direct hire positions and relocation assistance is provided.
If you would like to learn more about the many opportunities we have within Yahoo, please forward a copy of your resume to Carla at
This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it
and the best number and time to reach you. I'll review your information upon receipt and contact you to gather some more information about your background and interests.
Link
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On prowebdeveloper.info, Marcel Esser has posted the first in a series of articles looking at functionality to reduce database load in applications, specifically those using secure clientside sessions.
Scaling web applications is easy. Generally, if a web application is designed to store all of its session information in a database, it can be easily scaled by adding more servers in a loadbalanced setup. This is tried and true, and it works very well until your database server runs out of capacity.
He lists the common ways most developers solve this problem (four of them) but notes that thay are more of a temporary solution rather than a longterm fix. Instead, he outlines what the requirements for a library to correctly handle the connections should be and explains how each of them would be implemented. He's been following this kind of mentality in the development of his own package proWebComponents.
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As posted on the Zend Developer Zone:
Company
WAMU 88.5, American University Radio
Location
Washington,DC
Title
Web Developer
Summary
WAMU 88.5 in Washington, DC is seeking a web developer with PHP experience.
Requirements include: A high level of exhibited skill in designing and building web applications using open source technologies, particularly PHP, mySQL, and Apache, A proven ability to plan, execute and support projects with minimal supervision, and Experience with knowledge management and data archiving.
For more information or to apply visit American University's career pages, position #3791, Web Content Developer, WAMU.
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As posted on the Zend Developer Zone:
Company
Wasabi Systems
Location
Norfolk, VA
Title
Web Applications Engineer
Summary
Wasabi Systems seeks a highly motivated web applications developer for our flagship networked storage products. You'll develop the frontend using PHP, JavaScript, AJAX, and CSS. You will have the opportunity to design and implement bleedingedge features. You must be able to learn new technologies quickly and be able work productively without a high level of supervision.
To apply, please send an email to
This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it
with a copy of your resume and any salary requirements.
Link
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New versions of both generations of the PHP language have been released today versions 5.2.1 and 4.4.5:
The PHP development team would like to announce the immediate availability of PHP 5.2.1 and availability of PHP 4.4.5. These releases are major stability and security enhancements of the 5.x and 4.4.x branches, and all users are strongly encouraged to upgrade to it as soon as possible. Further details about the PHP 5.2.1 release can be found in the release announcement for 5.2.1, the full list of changes is available in the ChangeLog for PHP 5. Details about the PHP 4.4.5 release can be found in the release announcement for 4.4.5, the full list of changes is available in the ChangeLog for PHP 4.
You can find what updates were made in each of the releases in their appropriate changelogs and from the main PHP.net website.
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As mentioned on dzone.com, there's an extension for Firefox, FirePHP, that allows you to get a bit more info on what your PHP scripts are up to.
FirePHP allows you to take a deeper look at all the work your PHP code does to generate that page you are currently looking at in your Firefox browser.
Just install the FirePHP Firefox extension, PHP PEAR package and add a few lines of code to your PHP application to get started. You will see a FirePHP tab in your Firebug extension to bring your PHP backend logic to your fingertips!
You can check out screenshots of it in action, a demo of its use, and of course, download the latest version all from their site. It works either as a separate window or attached in your browser and, based on an XML capabilities file, works with your application to provide details about your scripts.
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With all of the recent talk about business cases for PHP, Ben Ramsey wanted to get some of his thoughts on the matter out and into his blog in a new post.
I don't believe anyone has ever published any white papers on PHP, giving it a business case, and while we have companies like Zend, OmniTI, and eZ Systems providing support for PHP, I haven't seen any documentation from them like this. So, last Thursday when Stuart Herbert announced his Google Group for developing a business case for PHP, I took notice and joined.
Definitely good to hear encouraging words about a project that could ultimately help out the language as a whole break into an area where the growth has been the slowest.
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On the PHP in Action blog, Dagfinn Reiersol has posted some ideas about developing PHP applications (really, any applications) from scratch by faking it.
So where and how on earth do you start? Let's say we know one thing about the result; call it the known fact. Do we start by making educated guesses about what should be in the black box? A lot of development is like that.
Enough of this philosophical mumbojumbo; what does it mean in practice? Well, it's testdriven development, and more specifically, it's what Kent Beck calls the Fake It patttern. You implement a test for the result, then you hard code the result. It's an absolutely weird idea that's magical in its effect because it get you started. And as the German expression goes, aller Anfang ist schwerall beginnings are difficult.
He illustrates the point with a set of code examples one side being the unit test (written first, of course) and the other the actual code. All it does is set a URL to a variable inside a class, but the point is made.
Starting at the high level is good when you know the full scope of the project, but that's not always a possibility. This is a good alternative to getting started without causing too many issues down the road.
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Patrick Reilly has a new post today encouraging developers out there looking for an opportunity to volunteer in the community to check out the Zend Framework project's many needs.
Most components and subprojects need volunteers to help with documentation, unit test coverage, code reviews, improving integration with other ZF components, and enhancing architecture and design for the purpose of improving extensibility and ease of use with new components. If you see a subject area or component that interests you, please contact any project members currently associated with the component.
The project is starting several wiki websites dedicated to each of the components/efforts inside of the main framework project. Areas for these include:
Auth Team
Documentation Team
MVC Team
Web Services Team
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In the continuing series on RSS files, DevShed has posted this new part with a focus on the theoretical aspects of developing an RSS file.
These aspects include things like examples of the elements it can contain, elements that are required for it to be a compliant RSS document, a look at the enhanced RSS functionality and structure (more information about the creator of the RSS embedded in the data), and even a look at what an aggregator is and what they would do with your RSS file.
Keep an eye out for the last installment in the series a look at actually creating the RSS file from your data (probably from a database) and displaying it for the world to see.
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Daniel Krook has good news in list form for the IBM OS users out there (in list form) the different systems that have PHP ported over:
The little language that could has made its way to z/OS. It's an older PHP 5 release, but PHP 5 nonetheless.
The list is of the four System * series:
System x: check.
System i: check.
System p: check, check.
System z: check.
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On the Metapundit.net site, there's a new (long) entry that takes a look at one of the programming styles, functional programming, and checks into its support in PHP. Unfortunately, it's mostly a swing and a miss.
I should just get this straight right off the bat: you can't really do much functional programing in PHP. Functions are not first class citizens and the equivalent of passing functions around is passing around strings or arrays and relying on convention. No really.
He goes on by illustrating the point that PHP can do this sort of thing but only up to a point. Once you start to get into anonymous functions and moving past things like the array_map function, you start to loose a foothold. The create_function function allows for a bit more flexibility, but still doesn't fulfill the requirements needed for full support.
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On the Metapundit.net site, there's a new (long) entry that takes a look at one of the programming styles, functional programming, and checks into its support in PHP. Unfortunately, it's mostly a swing and a miss.
I should just get this straight right off the bat: you can't really do much functional programing in PHP. Functions are not first class citizens and the equivalent of passing functions around is passing around strings or arrays and relying on convention. No really.
He goes on by illustrating the point that PHP can do this sort of thing but only up to a point. Once you start to get into anonymous functions and moving past things like the array_map function, you start to loose a foothold. The create_function function allows for a bit more flexibility, but still doesn't fulfill the requirements needed for full support.
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Despite opinions from some of the PHP community, interoperability between PHP applications isn't is such a bad state at least According to Aaron Wormus:
The fact of the matter is that it's not such a big deal. Porting a plugin from Wordpress to Serendipity is usually trivial, and as we see more webservices based plugins (stuff like the awesome askimet) the task becomes simpler and simpler.
Interoperability is overrated, the more you think of it the more complex it gets. As you start throwing in new factors into the equation (how will this interoperate with a java/c# application) you start to develop monsters like JSR 170 which solve a lot of problems on paper, but in reality are too unwieldy to be truly useful.
He even lists out some of his steps to interoperability to help speed things along (like use as much abstract code as possible and use services).
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Latest PHPClasses.org Releases:Flash MessagesRSS and Atom Feeds Processing APImabp::tagCloudUltimate MySQLerror_managerSingly Linked ListChinese Encode ConvertphpSortableASCII Art GeneratorPSPLMultiselectNiftyCubeAmazon ECS Webservicesimple Email ClassPHPDance |
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On the Zend Developer Zone, Cal Evans has posted a quick look at one of the new offerings from the Manning Publishing group PHP in Action.
My buddy Olivia over at Manning Publications sent us a present recently. They are working on the title PHP in Action and they sent us a chapter to share with you. PHP in Action is scheduled to release in April of this year but it's available now in Manning Early Release Program, or MEAP. MEAP is a cool program that allows you to buy the book long before it is released and have access to the chapters as they are released. Then, when the final deadtree edition ships, they will send you one. The great thing is, there is no additional cost for MEAP.
He links to the book's description on the Manning site and gives some credit to the authors, Dagfinn Reiersol with Marcus Baker and Chris Shiflett. And, of course, the link to the sample chapter from the book a look at Design Patterns.
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Greg Beaver, PEAR guru extraordinaire, has added a new post to his blog encouraging the use of the PEAR installer to help manage and deploy your website to a production server.
One of the most common tasks that we experience as web developers is synchronizing a development web server with a live site. There are many solutions that have been tried before. [...] However, every single method (described above) has the potential for immediate and catastrophic failure, even with a backup.
He suggests the use of the PEAR installer functionality along with version control to easily deploy a site, allowing for things file dependencies and versioning. So, if files are handled through that package, how is the database managed? Through another PEARrelated feature the postinstall database initialization the Installer makes possible. Check out Greg's post for the full details on how to get you and your site started.
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