Planet PHP

Distributing PHP processing with Gearman

Mon, 23 Nov 2009 11:51:26 GMT

Distributing PHP processing with Gearman

By Cesar D. Rodas

Gearman is a tool for distributing processing jobs over one or more machines.

This article explains how to use Gearman in PHP applications to handle better the load of busy sites or applications that need to execute heavy jobs.

PHP in Arabic

Mon, 16 Nov 2009 05:12:08 GMT

PHP in Arabic

By Manuel Lemos

The use of Arabic in Web sites has been growing in a significant way in the latest years.

This is an idiom that requires special care due to the nature of its writing.

This article presents an interview with Khaled Al-Shamaa, the leader of Ar-PHP, a project that aims to simplify the lives of developers that want to build Arabic sites using PHP.

New approach to generate PDF using PHP with Zend Framework

Thu, 08 Oct 2009 08:36:21 GMT

New approach to generate PDF using PHP with Zend Framework

By Jonathan Maron

LiveDocx is a Zend Framework package that implements a new approach to generate PDF documents in PHP.

It combines structured data passed by a PHP script with a template created in a word processor. It is the same concept as mail merge.

The resulting document can be saved as a PDF, as well in other formats such as DOCX, DOC or RTF file.

Microsoft promotes the careers of PHP professionals

Wed, 30 Sep 2009 10:43:28 GMT

Microsoft promotes the careers of PHP professionals

By Manuel Lemos

Microsoft is launching a new initiative to promote the careers of PHP professionals.

This article presents an interview with a Microsoft manager to explain in more details what is this initiative and how the PHP professionals may take advantage of it.

ShishKabab PHP IDE

Tue, 22 Sep 2009 02:08:09 GMT

ShishKabab PHP IDE

By Vincent den Boer

A new Open Source PHP IDE, the ShishKabab PHP IDE, was released recently.

This article explains what it is, why it was developed, in what direction it is heading, and most importantly, how you can get it.

PHP on Windows Azure

Thu, 06 Aug 2009 11:11:56 GMT

PHP on Windows Azure

By Manuel Lemos

PHP is now officially supported as a language for developing applications that can run on Windows Azure, Microsoft's cloud operating system.

This article is an interview with Teoni Valois, an independent PHP and .NET expert that answered some questions to give an overview of the PHP support on Windows Azure.

He also talks about the advantages and disadvantages of running PHP applications on this environment when compared to regular Windows or Linux based hosting or other cloud computing environments.

India will become number 1 source of PHP developers soon

Thu, 30 Jul 2009 08:02:25 GMT

India will become number 1 source of PHP developers soon

By Manuel Lemos

The number of Indian PHP developers has been growing at a large pace in the last few years, when compared to other countries. A few years ago, India was just one of the top ten countries with more PHP developers. Now India is number 2 and is almost surpassing United States, which is still number 1.

This article presents a reflection about why this growth happened just in the latest years, as well what it means for the PHP world.

Sandeep Kadam, a leader of the PHP community in India gave an interview to help clarifying this subject.

HTML 5 for a better Web

Mon, 06 Jul 2009 16:40:55 GMT

HTML 5 for a better Web

By Manuel Lemos

The HTML 5 will definitely contribute to a better Web. Despite its specification is still being drafted, several browsers like Firefox 3.5, Internet Explorer 8, Safari 4, Chrome 2 and Opera 10 already implement a significant part of the current HTML 5 specification.

This article reviews a bit of the history of how we got to HTML 5 and presents an overview of the enhancements that HTML 5 introduces to provide a better Web.

It also presents a reflection about whether HTML 5 will render useless browser extensions like Flash, Silverlight and Java.

PHP standards discussion group opens to the world

Tue, 02 Jun 2009 15:00:06 GMT

PHP standards discussion group opens to the world

By Manuel Lemos

A discussion group was formed to define standards to be adopted by PHP frameworks and applications.

This article gives an initial overview of what is this group about.

How large is the PHP market?

Wed, 13 May 2009 11:10:41 GMT

How large is the PHP market?

By Manuel Lemos

Sometimes it is necessary to know how large is the PHP market in the world or in a specific country.

It may help, for instance, developers to advocate for PHP, companies to decide for sponsoring PHP events, PHP training, developing of products targeting the PHP developers, or any other initiatives directed to the PHP market.

This article presents several sources of information that may help decision makers to invest more in the PHP market.

The article also covers the huge popularity of Firefox browser among PHP developers attributing it to the superb Web development extensions available for this browser. The most useful Firefox extensions for PHP developers are listed.