Hey, everybody! It’s almost that time again… No, not payday. :/ The Orlando PHP User Group meeting is only a week away! This month we’re going to host a hack-along seminar and some pertinent discussions:

What’s with the PHP already?

One of our members fielded a question to the group about why a relatively normal, even-tempered, mostly sane individual would ever dabble into the crazy, confusing, mixed-up world of PHP development in the first place. There are a million or more other languages available for development on the web: Python, Ruby, Java, JSP, ASP, .Net, Action Script (really?), javaScript (some ppl do it, y’know)… Why PHP? Derek and I will share our reasons, briefly, and open the discussion up for the floor, as well.

What I love / hate about…

We’re starting a new rant… I mean, series this month; your opportunity (and ours) to vent, uh… discuss the, er… rewards and challenges, let’s call them, of our most and least favorite aspects of the web. Right on the heels of our “Why PHP?” discussion, we’ll aim our sights… Figuratively, of course… at our favorite programming language: PHP. All versions are fair game (wooboy). From there, we’ll choose a target… subject, I should say, for next month. My vote is “Project Management Software”…!

So where do we go from here?

As some of you are aware, Devry is kicking us out. It’s not just us, of course, all the User Groups are getting “das boot”, thanks to some renovations on campus. That means we need another location, if our little menagerie of nerdery is to survive… And survive it will! Flourish even!

Well, go on. Start flourishing!

There are some proposals on the table, already, and we really want to get the pulse of the membership. If location has been your sticking point before, now’s your chance to blow up that Google group! We’ll be posting all the suggested options on OrlandoPHP.org and in the group and taking suggestions from the discussion group to the meeting, so talk it up!

New Hack-along Series Starting!

Okay, so I intentionally saved this for last. I know. I torture ppl. It’s cruel. You should see what I do to kittens. So, I’m starting a new series… Well, really re-starting an older series. Yeah, I’m gonna start that blog up again… Using Subversion… Using Zend Framework… Using PHPUnit… All of that. Primarily, I’m going to build stuff, explain why I’m building it a particular way, and show it all on a GIANT PROJECTOR! woot. You can come, ask questions, and hack along with with me (hence “hack-along”, derr). And watch me screw up and type badly. Always entertaining. :/

That’s ALL happening at the next Orlando PHP User Group meeting, June 24th, 2008, from 7pm to 9pm at Devry Institute on Millennia Blvd. You should be there!

David @ OrlandoPHP.org