So I’m faced with a less-than-unique dilemma. It seems that ppl occasionally listen to what I have to say and may actually find my advice useful. Whodathunkit? Therefore, I need a method of disseminating my apocryphal wisdom to the masses and finding myself straight out of handy newspaper publications from which to spout my nerd rhetoric, I’m turning to that age-old agent of self-publication: the blog.

Okay, “age-old” is a gross exaggeration for sake of prose, but you get the picture. This has been done about a million times, in a million languages, with a million different tools. There’s even one in AppleScript, ladies and gents. Yeah, AppleScript. Google will tell you; you can trust him.

Not being a terrible fan of AppleScript, I’ve opted to use my favorite scripting / templating / programming language of choice: PHP…! And not just any PHP, but PHP5, the best PHP of all (yet)…! Furthermore, I’m kinda on this whole framework-based and test-driven development kick, so I’ll be using a couple of my other favorite tools: phpUnit 3.2 and Zend Framework 1.5. And since I’m horrible about making terrible, irrevocable filesystem mistakes directly onto the internet, there will be heavy Subversion lifting with a local Apache install to test the stupid thing in.

Now, don’t mistake my intentions, here. I well realize that I’m not about to write the latest Wordpress in a single evening, nor that I’m even capable of writing Wordpress in the first place. This is easily an indefinite project of infinite scope, and I’d love all your input on it. “You” in this case being the figurative whole of our current membership / readership. Yeah, that’s you. More minds the better, as always. Let’s hack something up real nice…!

David (at) OrlandoPHP.org

Hey, thanks to everyone who came out last week to our first meeting! It was a blast, and we all learned something about those pesky frameworks, I think. Now we need some ideas for next month… Maybe a CMS roundup? Things we love and hate about PHP? What’s the best PHP IDE and why? I love the idea for the project showcase! So much so, in fact, that I’m kinda starting my own PHP coding series at Stardust tomorrow night. I’m devoting a whole post to that, so I won’t give away too much.

Thanks for dropping back by, join ye ole fashioned Google groups, and poke around a bit!

David (at) OrlandoPHP.org

Myself, David and some others plan on heading over to Stardust tomorrow (Tues) evening for a coworking session. We will just be messing around on personal projects (well I will be at least). I believe we are each working with Zend Framework which was one of the frameworks discussed last week. Stop by to hang out if your interested. Company is always welcome!

I plan on being there from around 7:00 p.m. till about 9:00 p.m.

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Our first meetup is only a week away. As a reminder, we will be meeting on April 22nd from 7:00 - 9:00 at Devry Center on Millennium Blvd, room 106. Our proposed topic for the meeting will be “Framework-Based Development in PHP”, highlighting the differences between the various, popular PHP frameworks. Among those slated for discussion:

• Zend Framework
• cakePHP
• CodeIgniter
• Symfony
• Roll-Your-Own!

The discussion is planned to be panel style. Instead of regular presentations, we plan on discussing the topics involved with using frameworks and debating the pros and cons of each framework in regards to how they handle each topic.

This is our first meeting of many to come so please help spread the word. We will have some pizza and soda available if you are hungry. Come on out and meet other fellow PHPers.

We knew him well, Horatio. Horatio? Well, where did he get to now…? Nevermind.

In loving memory of our dearly departed friend, Cup O Code, I shall hold a wake at the Cup O Soul in Winter Park on Tuesday, April 15th, at 7pm, the usual meeting time for that group. We shall observe a moment of silence (more so if I’m the only participant), so wear your best black tee. In true Irish (and geek) tradition, we shall then drink (coffee) to the departed, provided by me (HYDRA, actually) and toast his death. Please join me in mourning our lost friend, dear Cup O Code. Seeya there,

David - OrlandoPHP.org

What a great event that was! If you missed it, keep an eye on the BarCamp Orlando website for details on the next one and to recap all the great presentations from this one! I did a couple presentations, which I’ve posted on the HYDRA website, among other places. Thanks for all the compliments and advice, everyone.

Well, glad to see you all made it here in once piece, and we look forward to seeing you again at the next OrlandoPHP meeting!

David - OrlandoPHP.org

2 Google Groups have been created for OrlandoPHP. One is for announcements and will be used as the mailing list for us to get info out to everyone. This other will be just a general discussion group. Feel free to post anything you want there ,try to keep it clean and related to PHP though :).

Please stop by each of the groups and sign up! We will be sending out invites to the interested people we have collected addresses from shortly too.

Announcement Group:
http://groups.google.com/group/orlandophp

Discussion Group:
http://groups.google.com/group/orlandophp-announcements

I have posted the first meeting up on Upcoming.org. We will most likely start posting every event there as well as on the Central Florida Tech Calendar on Google (I need to get write access from Gregg w/ orug.org first though).

Upcoming.org link: http://upcoming.yahoo.com/event/469406/?ps=5

The inaugural meeting of OrlandoPHP.org is scheduled for April 22nd, 2008, at Devry Campus on Millennia Blvd (it’s actually across from Target, across from Millennia Mall), in room 106. Our proposed topic for the month will be “Framework-Based Development in PHP”, highlighting the differences between the various, popular PHP frameworks. Among those slated for discussion:

• Zend Framework
• cakePHP
• CodeIgniter
• Symfony
• Roll-Your-Own!

Additional suggestions are welcomed, below, and “experts” in those frameworks suggested are encouraged to participate, as we’re planning for an open-panel-style discussion rather than a slide-by-slide presentation. Please provide feedback and comments below on which frameworks you use in development and why, or why you’ve chosen a different route. Seeya there!

The OrlandoPHP.org Team

Gosh, that’s a lot to put in one title…! Don’tcha wish that WordPress had a subtitle tag? Seriously. Anyway, thanks for dropping by, all you ppls from Meetup.com! Maybe Sway will drop by, too, and say a couple words. I know someone that works with him, I think, so who knows? If you’re wondering what this group is all about, well, you’re looking at it. No, no, not the inane ramblings of some recent Wordpress convert (still hate this thing, BTW); I mean the vague reflection you’re almost not-seeing in your monitor screen. Unless you’ve got one of those glossy MacBook Pro screens, primarily designed to satisfy their owners by providing the gawking stares of onlookers in perfect clarity.

Yes, it’s you we’re after. Not for your money or credit card information, not even for your precious cheezy poofs, but for your yet-unthought thinkings and yet-uncoded codings and lots of other yet-undone doings (that are conveniently free of copyright infringement). So stick around, check out a meeting, and provide valuable attention dataz, which feed the All-knowing Google.

David - OrlandoPHP.org