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Thu, 28 Feb 2008 6:19 UTC
Elizabeth Naramore announced PHP Appalachia 2008 earlier this week.
WHAT IS PHP APPALACHIA? A PHP unconference nestled in the Smoky Mountains, for those who like to camp or stay in a cabin, enjoy spending time with friends, and talking about PHP. As before, we will have a few presentations, but a lot of the time will be flexible and spent how the group sees fit at the time.
Details are still being finalized. Keep watching Elizabeth’s blog for more information, and I’m sure someone will update http://www.phpappalachia.org/ in the near future. 
UPDATE: Keith Casey also blogged about it. I was out of town for several days, so I missed lots. 
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Fri, 13 Oct 2006 13:12 UTC
While at PHP Appalachia, I had the pleasure of meeting David Rasch, the founder of Triangle PHP, which meets in the Raleigh-Durham-Chapel Hill region of North Carolina. One night, by the campfire, David and I launched into a discussion about how newbies learn PHP from current books on the market. He suggested that the format for teaching PHP needs to change and that these books need to start not by teaching PHP from the Web but by introducing newbies to PHP concepts by creating command-line applications. The idea being to introduce them early on to OOP and best practices, rather than trying to get them started fast with a simple “Hello, World” Web site.
While I agreed with the concept in general, I questioned the marketability of this approach. When a person picks up a book on PHP, I asked, what is it they want to do? The simple answer is: they want to create a dynamic Web site, and they want to do it now. Publishers will be very reluctant to publish a book that does not follow the traditional “teach them to create an application then teach them the best practices” model because the reader knows or has heard somewhere that PHP will enable and empower them to create an application—albeit a simple one—in a matter of minutes. This is what makes PHP so attractive to newcomers.
Nevertheless, David had some good points, and, while I was playing devil’s advocate in my comments, I agree that the way we introduce newbies to PHP needs to change at the fundamental level. Newbies must learn the fundamentals first, while still feeling like they are moving somewhere quickly and not being overburdened by a steep learning curve. Thus, David has followed up his original post with “Learning PHP sans bad habits,” which includes a proposed TOC for such a book. The proposed book introduces the reader to PHP syntax from the command line, but, by the second chapter, takes them into Web development with a simple framework that will protect them from bad practices (such as failing to filter input and escape output). At this point, the reader does not yet need to understand these principles or how the framework works (these are covered later in the book), but they are still learning how to protect themselves using best practices.
I think David’s got some good ideas here that the community should definitely take into consideration when teaching and writing books about PHP. Now, I’m just waiting to see what publisher will approach David first to turn his proposed TOC into a reality. 
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Thu, 28 Sep 2006 22:07 UTC
[Cross posted on PHPAppalachia.org]
To me, it’s always very interesting to hear the pre-PHP stories of other PHP programmers—the days before they programmed in PHP, what they did and how they came to call themselves PHP programmers. The stories vary greatly from programmer to programmer, and almost none begin with: “I was working toward a degree in computer science ….” In fact, the more people I talk with, the more I’m convinced that the typical PHP programmer, in fact, sort of got to where they are by an odd arrangement of life circumstances we call coincidences. Almost none elected to be where they are, but nearly all enjoy the work they do, many to a great degree of passion.
Joined by Elizabeth Naramore, Chris Spruck, Randall Bollig, and James Logsdon, we discussed how we all have diverse backgrounds ranging from marine biology to organizational behavior to literature to business to early employment from job offers while in high school. I’ll let the reader decide to whom each background belongs. I think other programming communities do not have such diversity of backgrounds; I could be wrong. Yet, it seems to me that other communities have developers who started with the intention of gaining a Computer Science degree for the purpose of being a programmer. This does not seem to be the case (to me) with much of the PHP community.
Such were the conversations held in my Honda Pilot as we ascended into the Great Smoky Mountains with the intent to reach the summit of Clingman’s Dome. As I pulled into the parking lot near the summit, visibility dropped to near zero as clouds enveloped us. I opened the door to a great blast of icy wind, and though we weren’t exactly dressed for the occassion—we saw a family wearing scarves and toboggans—we proceeded to hike up the half mile trail to the summit. We couldn’t make out much of the way in front of us, so as it began to sprinkle a freezing rain, we made the decision to turn back, not knowing how far from the top we were. We determined this was a good thing, for, even as we were soaked in the rain walking back to the car, it began to hail and sleet with great force once we reached my Pilot.
Rain-soaked and cold, we proceeded down the mountain, nevertheless upbeat and, I think, happy to have shared the adventure with fellow and diverse PHPers.
How did you come to be a PHP programmer?
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Tue, 26 Sep 2006 18:58 UTC
Well, I’m heading to PHP Appalachia to get things set up and ready for tomorrow. I hope to keep things regularly updated here, on the PHP Appalachia Web site, on my Flickr blog, and on #phpappalachia (on Freenode IRC). Join us in any of these places to keep track of our discussions and activities, as I’ll be encouraging attendees to blog and post notes about the event.
For those attending, tag all your photos, links, and blog posts with “phpappalachia.”
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Wed, 30 Aug 2006 14:26 UTC
We now have an IRC channel for the PHP Appalachia conference – Freenode – #phpappalachia. Come join us!
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Fri, 28 Jul 2006 18:50 UTC
This is just a reminder to let you know that the extension for reserving your campground spot for PHP Appalachia will expire soon—on August 1, to be exact. After August 1, you will still be able to reserve a spot at the campground, but you will not receive the group discount, nor is there any guarantee that your campsite will be placed with or near the rest of the group. So, sign up today!
What is PHP Appalachia? PHP Appalachia is an informal gathering of PHP enthusiasts who just want an excuse to get together and enjoy exchanging information in a relaxed, beautiful setting. There is no set agenda, no formal speakers. Just 3 days of camping and sharing PHP ideas and experiences with people just like you.
The event takes place September 27-29, 2006 at the Cherokee/Great Smokies KOA in Cherokee, NC.
See the PHP Appalachia Web site for more details.
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Fri, 23 Jun 2006 21:55 UTC
Sign Up Today!
PHP Appalachia is an informal gathering of PHP enthusiasts who just want an excuse to get together and enjoy exchanging information in a relaxed, beautiful setting. There is no set agenda, no formal speakers. Just 3 days of camping and sharing PHP ideas and experiences with people just like you.
The event takes place September 27-29, 2006 at the Cherokee/Great Smokies KOA in Cherokee, NC.
To receive the group discount for your camping site/cabin, you must reserve your spot with the campground before July 5!
See the PHP Appalachia Web site for more details.
Discussion Topics
There is a post on the PHP Appalacia site asking for topics of interest. We want to compile a list of discussion topics so that we can organize when discussions will take place. This way, no one is left out of a discussion they want to participate in and missed simply because they were off hiking, tubing, or gambling at the casino.
You can send an e-mail to me and Elizabeth for topic ideas (info [at] phpappalachia [dot] org) or simply leave a comment on the post.
On the Importance of Early Registration for Sponsorships
The following is somewhat of a personal rant and isn’t meant to reflect the feelings of Elizabeth Naramore or anyone else affiliated with PHP Appalachia.
It’s the age-old question of the chicken and the egg. You can’t get sponsors without a critical mass of registered attendees. You can’t get registered attendees without sponsorship. What about grassroots campaigns? you ask. Well, grassroots campaigns work often because there are enough people passionate about the issue/event to spread the word and to commit themselves to sign on early—there’s that, and there’s often a lot of money invested.
While we don’t need a lot of money to run PHP Appalachia—in fact, we really only need the registration fees to cover the cost of t-shirts—we would like to offer some other accomodations to our attendees. These include free wifi (currently, there is a daily fee per person), free transportation from the airport (AVL only) to the campground (in the form of passenger vans), namebadges and lanyards, etc.
We have had some sponsorship interest, but sponsors want to know numbers, and we don’t yet have the numbers to appeal to sponsors. So, here is my plea: we need people as excited and passionate about this event as Elizabeth and I are so that we can get the word out and have a good crowd. Please join me in spreading the word, and please commit to attend this unique event. It will definitely be enriched by your presence.
That said, I’ll still be happy to go camping with friends even if there’s only a handful of us that go.
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Sun, 4 Jun 2006 18:53 UTC
As Elizabeth mentioned, what began as a discussion between herself, Aaron, Chris, and me in the #phpc channel on Freenode IRC has become a reality. PHP Appalachia is born!
What:
PHP Appalachia is an informal gathering of PHP enthusiasts who just want an excuse to get together and enjoy exchanging information in a relaxed, beautiful setting. There is no set agenda, no formal speakers. Just 3 days of camping and sharing PHP ideas and experiences with people just like you.
When:
September 27-29, 2006
Where:
This gathering will be held at the Cherokee/Great Smokies KOA in Cherokee, NC.
The Cherokee / Great Smokies KOA is bordered on one side by the serene Raven Fork River and on the other side by three tribal trout ponds. It lies just across the road from Great Smoky Mountains National Park and one mile from the Blue Ridge Parkway. From almost anywhere on KOA’s grounds, take in 360-degree mountain views. Enjoy the shuttle to area attractions, indoor pool and hot tub, fitness center, island pet walk, whitewater rafting, horseback riding and gem mining excursions, among other things. Wireless Internet is available at the campground.
Who:
Anyone with an interest in PHP and PHP related technologies is welcome to attend. Even if “roughing it” is not your thing, you’re welcome to come along as there are numerous area hotels available.
How Much:
Registration is only $15, and each attendee will receive a free PHP Appalachia t-shirt. Accomodations are very affordable, and meals are available for about $25/day.
See the PHP Appalachia Web site for more details.
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