Archive for November, 2004
Mon, 29 Nov 2004 21:00 UTC
I’m currently looking for case studies of companies that have used a PHP-based application framework. The particular framework is unimportant, as long as it is PHP-based.
To be specific, I’m looking to see how the PHP-based application framework helped to solve a problem in your company and how successful it was at solving that problem. Were there any problems you had to overcome to make the framework perform according to your project specifications? Did you decide to continue your use of it, and would you recommend it to others?
I will be using the case studies in future articles—and possibly talks. I’ll be sure to credit the companies when discussing case studies.
Send case studies to ramsey at php dot net or post a comment here, and I’ll get in touch with you.
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Mon, 22 Nov 2004 17:04 UTC
Since, John Coggeshall posted about this today, I suppose it’s okay for me to do the same. 
After many months of intense work by John and many others (including myself), PHP 5 Unleashed is finally ready for the shelves. I’ve seen the galley proofs, and the book is an excellent and comprehensive guide to PHP for beginners and seasoned programmers alike.
It’ll ship in December, so pre-order it today at Amazon.
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Mon, 22 Nov 2004 16:47 UTC
It seems that php|architect will be launching two series of books next year. One, their “php|architect Guides,” will feature books focused on a single, niche subject of 250-300 pages. The other series, presently referred to as “NanoBooks,” will be less than 100 pages (basically, these are described as being like expounded-upon php|a articles).
Since Marco Tabini & Associates are dedicated to ePublishing, I wonder whether these books will see print forms or be available for download only.
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Sat, 20 Nov 2004 10:53 UTC
It’s been three weeks since I passed the Zend PHP Certification Exam, and I’ve been waiting to receive my certificate before I blogged on it so that I could scan it and display an image of what it looks like.
Unfortunately, I haven’t received it yet.
I’m not sure where the certificate is or even whether I’ll ever get one. I’ve not received any correspondence at all from Zend, so I’m not even sure if they know I passed. In all, I think the most disappointing part of the test is the lack of communication or details about what happens after you pass.
My thoughts on the test now seem in the distant past. The test itself was not altogether difficult, and there were no horrific questions on it like those that appear in the Study Guide (which led me to believe I would fail). Perhaps the least compelling reason to take the test is the cynical idea that such tests prove only one’s ability to retain information; a great programmer makes use of the resources at hand: Google, the PHP manual, and the mailing lists. None of these resources were available during the test, so what I was truly tested on was my ability to recall.
Still, certifications have their place, and in a business world, it looks great on a resume. The only problem is that many employers don’t know who or what Zend is, so the name of the exam means little to them. I imagine that a brief description must be provided in the resume to explain what the certification means, and I’d like to see Zend supply this concise definition of PHP and the Zend certification to its exam participants.
To inform my company as to what Zend certification means, I sent them this description from the Study Guide:
The Zend PHP Certification formally confirms the recognition of specific abilities and skills acquired and developed by the examinee. In other words, how predictably is the person likely to perform when applying PHP technology to a business problem? Have the examinees reached a predefined minimum standard in both academic and practical experience needed to produce quality work?
Of course, I also had to explain what PHP is. I think the description on the PHP Web site is in great need of updating. The best description I’ve found thus far is on the New York PHP Web site.
Finally, a word of advice about the exam: I finished with twenty minutes to spare. While I don’t expect everyone to finish so quickly, what I would like to advise is that you use every last spare minute to check and recheck your answers. I probably changed at least ten to fifteen answers during my review that I clearly recognized as wrong, and I’m convinced that made all the difference. So, double-check your answers!
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Fri, 19 Nov 2004 19:36 UTC
Today, I had lunch with Patrick Reilly and Camden Spiller. Both were in town for the LISA conference at the Atlanta Marriott Marquis, so I met them there and we walked a few blocks to Max Lager’s for lunch.
Patrick is a frequenter of the #phpc channel on Freenode IRC, so I’ve spoken with him quite a bit, and this was an excellent opportunity to place a name with a face. I also considered it another great PHP community-building experience; I’m beginning to feel that PHP developers in Atlanta are few and far between, so it’s always good to meet others.
For example, just the other day, I was at the Dot Org conference. I spoke to Tirza of ifPeople, and she said that she’s finding it hard to get good PHP developers because all her developers want to “program in object-oriented languages.” Is this myth still proliferating? I explained that PHP 5 has a completely redesigned object model so that now it can be called a true “object-oriented” language. She just smiled a seemingly humoring smile. Perhaps she was just humoring me, but one thing is for certain: she seemed excited to hear about the Zend Certification, something she did not know about.
So, my lunch with Patrick and Camden went well. Both are PHP programmers, and my impression is that Patrick probably has a wealth of knowledge and experience on the subject—perhaps even beyond my expertise. I don’t know what impression I left on them, but I suspect that I wasn’t exactly what they expected. While I love to program and consider myself a fairly good programmer, I feel that I’m a far better writer than a programmer, and I think that I’m much better on paper than in person. 
The only thing I think all of us wish had been better about our lunch would’ve been the presence of George Schlossnagle, who was in town this week for INBOX and left a few hours before our lunch. Patrick tried to bribe him with a free lunch, but it seems he had to leave.
I look forward to catching up with these guys at future PHP conferences.
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Wed, 10 Nov 2004 10:39 UTC
Indu Britto released today a preview of the 01.2005 issue contents of PHP Magazine. Included will be Aaron Wormus’s coverage of the PHP Conference and MySQL ComCon, as well as articles covering eCommerce solutions with PHP, MySQL 5.0, creating a “J2EE-like environment with PHP,” XML and Web services, and my article on Parrot and the Pint PHP interpretor for Parrot.
The issue is scheduled to hit newsstands on December 14th.
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Sat, 6 Nov 2004 16:53 UTC
Via Tom Sommer’s weblog, I can now follow along with the activities taking place at the PHP Conference and MySQL ComCon. They’ll have live blogging from the conference floor so those of us who can’t make it to the conference can at least live vicariously through blogs.
Aaron Wormus says he’ll be among the conference bloggers. Anyone know who else will be blogging?
The pre-conference activities begin tomorrow, so bookmark the blog, and follow along this week.
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