I had occasion to set up a dev box to test a new web application against different php versions, so I thought I would share the steps. This setup is for one PHP version at a time, and I have documented for 2 versions, but more can be done if required. Also I have used PHP4 and 5, but it could be multiple versions of PHP5, such as a beta version of 5.3. This setup was done using Apache2 on Windows.
Read more 'Switching between PHP versions with Apache on Windows'.
Recently I was involved in a project that returned graphic thumbnails in response to a remote php script call. One of the optimisations done was to have browser caching of returned images to save on our bandwidth. I will share the code we used to do this.
Read more 'PHP image output and browser caching'.
Cake, Zend, Symfony and CodeIgniter are the best known PHP frameworks, but as is obvious from the the big list of PHP frameworks, there are many more out there. I have had my say on why there are so many, so I thought it was appropriate to ask some maintainers of lesser known PHP frameworks why they have also created a public framework. I was fortunate that all 4 took the time to reply to my 5 questions. Take the time to check out these frameworks they might be what you need for your next project.
The questions and answers follow here, grouped by framework.
Read more '5 questions of framework maintainers'.
If you are using version control in your development, your team or self is most likely wanting to use an issue or bug tracker for your development. There are alternatives to a dedicated product like whiteboards, spreadsheets, email folders or a super memory. However for this article we will compare dedicated issue trackers, and to be more specific, 5 PHP based trackers that are released as free and open source software. All evaluation was done using PHP5.2.6 on Apache 2.2.9, MySQL 5.0.67.
Read more '5 Free Software PHP Issue Trackers'.
Since producing the big list of PHP frameworks I have been contacted privately by email and the issue has been raised by David in the comments. Why so many frameworks for PHP? Python has a few, and Ruby has 2 of its main frameworks merging. PHP has at least 50 active public frameworks with a vast unknown number of in house frameworks. It has been suggested this is a waste of resources and that 1 good framework is all that is needed.
Read more 'So why so many PHP frameworks?'.
For the start of a new year, it was time to clean out the list of PHP frameworks. A few have fallen by the wayside, but many new ones have been added. It seems that patterns and MVC is still all the rage, but less are professing to being Rails clones, though the inspiration of convention is still strong. There are a wide variety of framework types. From full stack (cakePHP, Symfony) to components (eZ), a bit of both (Zend) and minimalist (LightVC, TinyMVC, Pluf).
Read more 'The Big List of PHP Frameworks'.
Every developer is different, and most believe that their way is THE way. Some have a Computer Science degree, some learnt on the job. Some have 20 years experience across multiple languages, while someone is on their first day with PHP as their first language. There are so many differences, but 1 commonality: shared code. Unless you run your own company, and will never have anyone edit your code, you need a standard so that all these different programmers with their diverse backgrounds are working in a common way.
Read more 'Your team must have a coding standard'.
The internet is full of good and bad content, not just when it comes to PHP. Here is a list of the PHP related blogs that I consider most interesting.
Read more 'PHP developer blogs to read'.
This article is an introduction to some of the ways Xdebug can help you with your PHP code. Xdebug is a stable and mature PHP extension that can be invaluable in debugging and profiling your PHP code.
Read more 'Introduction to PHP with Xdebug'.
I have tried a few php frameworks over the years, sometimes with a positive experience, sometimes not. But the sheer number of them still amazes me. I had an original list of 22 for this site, and when we upgraded a few were culled off as they seemed to be dormant. However on a regular basis I am contacted about a framework that I didn't know existed, or come across it by chance. Also a number seem to have stopped development.
Read more 'Does every php developer have their own application framework?'.