Pragmatism in the real world

2011 in pictures

As I have done in 2008, 2009 and last year, I thought I'd continue my tradition of recapping my year with some photos. January PHPBNL 2011 happened in January. Also, my Mac OS X application, Daily Jotter was released onto the Mac App Store. February The first PHPucEU happened in Manchester which was great fun and, of course, the PHPUK conference in London. The biggest news for us though, was that we moved house in… continue reading.

Zend Framework 2 Beta 2 released

Zend Framework 2, Beta 2 has been released! The key new features are: Refactored Mail component Refactored Cache component MVC updates Check out Matthew's blog post for the full details. I've also updated my tutorial. This is a good time to get involved, try it out and let us know what you like/dislike.

Evan Coury: Keeping a clean GitHub fork – Part 1

Evan has posted the first of a series of articles on his blog about using git and github successfully: Let’s face it, nobody likes a dirty fork. In this series, I’ll show you some of the tricks I’ve learned over the years to successfully maintain a clean fork on GitHub for projects I actively contribute to. The first article covers creating your clone, adding remotes, keeping things up to date and working in topic branches.… continue reading.

ZF2 no longer requires a CLA to contribute

In #zf2 news, effective immediately, we no longer require a CLA for #zf2 contributions. Let the pull requests flow! – @weierophinney Matthew Weir O'Phinney has announced that contributors to Zend Framework 2 do not need to have signed Zend's Contributor License Agreement from now on. Zend Framework 2 is developed using git and there's a mirror on github, this means that contribution to ZF2 is now just a pull request away!

Updated tutorial for Zend Framework 2 beta 1

With the announcement of Zend Framework beta 1, I have updated my venerable tutorial to work with it! Getting started with Zend Framework 2 (beta1), creates the same application as my ZF1 tutorial, so it should be very familiar, but this time, it's in the context of Zend Framework 2. As usual, it's a PDF too. Please download it, try it out and let me know if you find any typos!

Bring a laptop to my ZF2 tutorial at PHPNW11

If you are attending my ZF2 tutorial at the PHPNW11 conference on Friday, I thought I'd remind you that you may find it useful to bring a laptop. Ideally, your laptop should be set up with PHP 5.3 and MySQL and a working copy of my ZF1 tutorial. It would be a good idea to have a vhost set up on http://zf2tutorial.localhost or similar. Ability to create additional vhosts may come in handy. The PHP… continue reading.

Remi Woler: The 10 rules to get support through IRC

Remi Woler has posted a useful article on getting support via IRC. Zend Framework has the #zftalk irc channel and I strongly recommend going through his points. I especially liked point 4: Ask a complete question, directed to anyone willing to answer (that is: don't direct it to any person or group in particular). If someone knows and has time, they will respond. Why rule out people in advance, without even telling what your question… continue reading.

Day Camp 4 Developers #3: Project Management

I'm delighted to be able to announce that I'm speaking at the next Day Camp 4 Developers on 1st October. Day Camp 4 Developers is a one-day online conference run by our friend Cal Evans and is now onto its 3rd outing. An online conference is one that you attend in your own home (or office!) which keeps the costs down considerably, so you have no excuse not to buy a ticket: just $40! Day… continue reading.

Bradley Holt: The Case For Rapid Release Cycles

Bradley Holt has posted an interesting article on why rapid release cycles are a good idea for Zend Framework major versions. For a framework (and maybe for other software), I think the following rules are necessary in order for a rapid release cycle to work: Minimize backwards compatibility changes between major releases. Targeted and strategic refactoring, rather than major overhauls, are preferable if you are releasing often. Small backwards compatibility changes makes migrating from one… continue reading.

Setting up PHP & MySQL on OS X 10.7 Lion

With OS X 10.7, Apple continues to ship PHP 5.3 with PEAR, GD and PDO_MYSQL out of the box. This is how to set it up from a clean install of 10.7. /usr/local Ensure that the following directories exist: sudo mkdir /usr/local/include sudo mkdir /usr/local/bin sudo mkdir /usr/local/lib sudo mkdir -p /usr/local/man/man1 MySQL Download the 64bit DMG version of MySQL 5.1.x (or 5.5.x) for OS X 10.6 from mysql.com and install the pkg, the startup… continue reading.