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

Ryan Price will be giving a talk on how Drupal was used for http://Petentials.com and http://OrlandoFringe.com. I have heard from some people that they are interested in Drupal. Ryan has developed plenty of sites in Drupal himself and will be able to show some real world examples of how it was implemented and problems encountered.

Cory Collier will give a run down of quick PHP performance tips and pitfalls. Join in to pick up quick and dirty performance tweaks that shouldn’t require much reworking of your code structure. He will also cover common performance pitfalls such as running the count function inside a for loop or not passing objects by reference.

As usual, we will have pizza and soda, the staple programmers diet :). Hope to see everyone there!

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

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

David (at) OrlandoPHP.org

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

View Larger Map

• 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.

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

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

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

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