me talking out loud

Was talking to my friend Philip Olson who is working on converting the PHP docs to liveDoc. He knows I sometimes help out writing phpt tests for the QA team and wanted to show me what a friend of his (colder) was doing.

Seems Philip and colder were talking on the IRC about possibly using the php doc examples to automatically generate some phpt tests to make sure the examples in the docs worked correctly. I personally think it is a great idea for another reason - it would give the QA team a base listing of phpt tests for the various PHP functions. With that base listing it would be easier to modify/add to the various phpt tests to cover the boundries of the function.

Since that conversation colder has been working on the script and while not completely pleased with it is willing to let me blog about it. He still has a number of ideas to implement and still hasn’t fully tested it yet, but you have to admit - the idea is interesting if nothing else.

Edit: Philip informed me that bjori was also an active member in the IRC conversation when all this was coming about.

While in #phpc today we managed to get on the subject of tech books and which ones we are reading, which we liked, what books we have coming and what not. I have to admit I love books and reading but I have so many problems finishing a dang tech book. Typically I will get it and start reading… rarely do I finish though. Now I could give you a whole list of reasons/excuses why I don’t but you probably don’t care. What kills me though is that I always end up ordering another book.

So no more books for now. I am going to break my pattern and finish what I have started. By the end of the year I will hopefully finish all the books I have already started - which are (in no particular order):

• Zend php certification study guide (this will have to be first since I am taking the test)
• High Performance MySQL (read engines, replication and started optimization)
• PHP5 Objects, Patterns, and Practice (half way done)
• Beginning JavaScript with DOM Scripting and Ajax (2 chapters in)
• HTTP handbook (3/4 done)

And then I have 3 other books (Beginning Ubuntu, PHP5 Power programming, and The Non-Designer’s Design Book) still waiting for me to crack them..

Well it is now official - I will be changing jobs. I will be starting at GuamCell Communications as a Systems Analyst in their MIS Department in 2 weeks.

Figure on me disappearing for a while while I get organized and settled - but have no fear - I will be back. You can’t get rid of me that easily. Actually expect me back big and bold to pick your brains since much of the stuff they will have me working on - I have never messed with.

With this move I will probably have less time to fart around with (they actually expect me to work - Sheesh ) but I will be doing more coding and will also be playing/learning more with the database. All good stuff to my mind.

Is it me - or does it seem like a number of people are moving around lately… Hmm.

I don’t know about other people but I am really bad about doing things without an end period. Basically, if there is no due date - it won’t get done. Since I had no actual test date for my PHP4 certification test I haphazardly studied for it. Been a year and I’m still only about half through the very thin study guide.

Well all that will now change. I am scheduled to take the test on Oct. 16th at 9 AM in the morning. Got nervous right after booking it since I can’t fart around anymore. *Sigh*

For those that don’t know I am active in PHPCommunity. Although the site itself is practically dead (and that is being nice) - the IRC Channel still has life and we are considering whether to move the site over to http://phpcommunity.ning.com/ (originally made by ramsey and ElizabethN for a concept). We want to know what the community thinks of this move and whether we should do it or not.

We have a soft decision date set for the 31st of August and a final decision date set for the 7th of Sept. Soft date is to get the word out and a general concensus. Final Date gives us a week to discuss and decide what to do. All discussions will be on #phpc on freenode. Have something to say - feel free to join in on the discussions.

This has to be one of my favorite blogs to read. It is Hysterical. Just wish the evil system admin posted more often, but he is definately worth the wait.

MySQL: Storing Passwords in MySQL

An interesting write up on a MySQL’s encryption possibilities. I have to admit it - been using PASSWORD() to encrypt my passwords and found out I shouldn’t be. Guess I need to stop that and try out the other possibilities presented here.

He goes over SHA1, MD5, AES and briefly, at the end, touches on DES.

Just wanted to say thanks to the guys at guys at php|architect’s Pro::PHP podcast for mentioning me and my blog on their newscast (Aug 18th). Very cool.

Oh and I like the new format of the newcast. The 2 person interaction makes it much more interesting. Hearing different “takes” on something helps open the mind to alternate viewpoints.

NSA ordered to stop wiretap programme

Pluto’s status attacked

Interesting discussion on whether Pluto will continue to be considered a planet even though over a dozen similar masses have been found within our solar system and not been designated as planets.

Found this article through planet MySQL. In it he goes over 4 different “types” of abstraction layers that typically are collectively called a “database abstraction layer” - though they are very different from one another. I found it an interesting read.

His 4 types:

1. A software library to connect to a database server and issue queries, fetch results etc.
2. A software library to present a common API to different database servers.
3. A software library to automatically generate portable SQL queries.
4. A software library to map Object-Oriented Programming to a relational database (Object-Relational Mapping, or ORM)

General
1) submit bug reports (anything from technical problems to documentation errors/typos)
2) contribute to the user comments in the manual
3) volunteer at a forum to help answer some of the questions the best you can
4) lurk in the IRC channels and help where you can (they can be a bit testy at times- but mean well)
5) subscribe to the mailing list and help where you can
6) Advocate PHP

help QA team
7) write phpt tests for the QA team
8) volunteer access to your server to a QA Team member.
9) contact the QA team to help test PHP release candidates

help PEAR
10) propose and write a package
11) volunteer to take over a package that is no longer maintained
12) check out the bug reports on your favorite package - pick one and fix it.
Then submit your patch to the lead developer for inclusion.
13) volunteer to write docs for your favorite package
14) buy something from someones wishlist for them

help Docs
(contact their mailing list for more inforamtion)
15) Help write docs for new features or features currently with little documentation (with PHP6 coming out - there will be a lot of new features to document - as well as old pages that will need adjustments/rewritings)
16) mirror the docs on your server
17) help with translating the docs
18) help clear documentation bugs

help Pecl
19) Write an extension
20) volunteer to write docs for your favorite extension
21) check out the bug reports on your favorite extension - pick one and fix it.
Then submit your patch to the lead developer for inclusion.
22) buy something from someones wishlist for them

help Core
(it is not uncommon for patches to be discussed and modified before acceptance. Contact the mailing list for more information)
23) submit patches to fix known bugs
24) submit patches for new features (these usually are “discussed” the most)
25) help benchmark releases

Have I missed any other ways? Let me know.

Well I’ll be danged. Didn’t expect the second part of my “Stored Procedure Programming for MySQL” to be put up so quickly on the PHP Architect A/R/T site.

Anyway - now that it is up… do me a favor and read it. Feedback, Criticism and Suggests are always welcome. Can’t improve otherwise.

From bash.org

argentius: I fell asleep again in class today…
darkersun: that sucks man, what did the teacher do?
argentius: I am the teacher >.<

Well the storm overnight took a swing north so we only barely were hit. Just some wind and a bit of rain. Nothing major. All that running around to stock up.. well at least we are ostly ready now.

Seems we are going to be hit by a tropical storm tommarow. It is passing north of us so we will be on the back side of the storm. Current forcast - expect 50MPH winds. Yeah…

hey,
my name is kayla. i’ved added chapter 6 for all those who want to continue reading my story. and if you haven’t the closest idea what i’m talking about, i’ll explain. i’m ligaya’s daughter. i’m writing a story called “The Ultimate Warrior”. if you would like to read it scroll down to links and click on kayla’s story. it will take you to my story. oh and just so you know i would be thankful for coments.

Zend is going to be having a webcast on it’s PHP5 certification on august 4th. Now as far as I know this is only their second webcast (first one was on web services), but I am sure (hoping) there will be more to come in the future.

Now the first webcast has been recorded and you can veiw it here if you missed it for whatever reason. I live on the opposite side of the world and it is usually ~2:00 when these things go on so I tend to miss them. Having a recording of it is very nice for me since that means I don’t have to wake up in the middle of the night (or just stay up), try to activate the brain, watch and absorb, then decompress and go to bed for 2 - 3 more hours before getting up to go to work.

So where am I going with this? If Zend is going to have webcasts and (hopefully) record them, they need a single repository for the recordings so fools like me can easily find them later. Currently there isn’t even a Webcast tag on the zend developer blog so you have to do a bit of digging (though not much - thankfully - right now) in the blog to find it. Am I jumping the gun and potentially making much more out of this then what currently dictates - yep. But I can see where this potentially can go and who can take advantage of it. I love and am regularly checking MySQL’s list of on-demand webinars for something new or relevant to what I am working on.

So Zend - will you start early orgainizing any recorded webcasts you may have so we can easily find them when we need to? I personally would love to see this webcast - but I have to admit the 2AM wake up is a royal pain. Maybe you can record it for me. Then you can use it and the recording of the Web services webcast to start the foundation of a great library of PHP webcasts for people to watch and learn from later.

By now most seem to know that Jani Taskinen has quit the PHP internals team. His reasons for leaving (whether for good or ill) are his though I do not know the whole story even if I was online when he made the decision to split.

What I find interesting is the incredable lack of at least one entry in the various PHP blogs. Maybe they think \. or Digg says it all. Maybe they have decided to respect his wishes and simply not respond. Maybe they are simply saddened by the loss of a comrade/coder/friend. I don’t know. What I do know is that I personally am saddened to see someone who not only must have loved PHP but helped create it from the ground up - leave it so suddenly. Giving so much of ones time and talent to a project - I would assume it has to be because of love.

No matter his reasons for leaving - I want to thank him for his time and expertise these past years. His contributions have helped make PHP the language I love. Thank you Jani. Fair winds and following seas.