me talking out loud

I am normally a vim user when I code but I decided to pop my head out of my cubicle and try something new on the editor front. So I decided to check out NuSphere.

What I like:

• Works very well straight out of the box. Very little configuring needed to activate the various capabilities and all of them “just worked”.
• The built in FTP/SFTP client - very handy when working with remote files -
• The built in DB navigator - covers multiple RDBMS
• built in ssh/telnet terminal
• built in cvs
• built in debugger
• very customizable - I like dark themes
• Code Insight shows the input params of a function while you are typing it - no need to look in the manual
• Multiple manuals included in the HELP menu - offline - they are right there

What I don’t like:

• php4 and php5 syntax highlighting are 2 seperate things - and you can’t copy one “theme” to the other. They must be set individually by hand.
• to send SQL to the DB you have to open a wizard - would prefer to be able to right click on the DB client and select “open SQL window”
• code completion when using mysqli and PDO in an Object Oriented manor is not available. It is available in the procedural style however. (To make it available I have to create a php file with all the methods documented. They do have a file for the SPL to show you what it looks like. And then point to it in one of the projects properties.)
• Code Insight can be irritating if it just happens to be covering something you want to see while you type (displays above the line you are typing. Can’t move it anywhere else like below or to the side.)
• No code folding. I use this all the time. It has a code browser though so I may not mind it as much - least that is what I have been told by friends who love their code browser.
• the libmysql.dll that comes with the default install does not work with MySQL 4.1<= . From what I understand it has to do with the new licenses. Anyway - if you are using a later version of MySQL you need to use the newest version of the libmysql.dll (I just copied it from my PHP 5 install to the nusphere install).
• not having an embedded Firefox to go with the IE. It does work with the external FF - but it would be nice to have it all in the IDE (and yes I want it on a silver spoon too )

Overall impressions - pretty dang cool. A lot of the things I didn’t like were nit-picky kind of stuff - but i have to admit I am like that. All the built in stuff was very cool and easy to set up (normally use various apps to do them).

The one major downer is the price - $119, $299, and $495 USD (comparable to Zend Studio). You can see what you get for each version here. If you want to try it out for yourself - they do have a free trial version available for download.

After over 8 months of silence, I noticed Richard Davey posted to his blog today. Seems he has been a bit busy with a new little one in the house.

Anyway - just want to give a belated Congrats to him and maybe a slight nudge to remind him that his PHP Life comic strip hasn’t been updated since he left either. Yeah - I’m selfish like that.

Was just cruising around on the Yahoo! job listings for the farts and giggles of it when I came across this job announcement. What caught my eye was the job title - MySQL Geek

I would apply for it if I was even remotely qualified just to have that on my desk and business card!

Oh and FYI - there where pages and pages of jobs when you searched using PHP as the keyword.

OK - PHPWomen.org has been around for about 2 weeks now and we sure have been busy. Currently we have just under 50 registered users on the very active forums, a basic site set up with a page explaining what we are about as well as what we have planned for the site. We also have a couple of writers who are busy getting a couple of series articles together that will be published on the site.

Currently the site has been busy with everyone getting to know each other and where everyone is. We have had a few people surprised to find they had another woman not to far from themselves which is what we wanted.

I can’t beleive the wonderful response this has had from the women in PHP and the PHP Community in general. I want to thank everyone who has volunteered to help with the site (from suggestions for the site to being a moderator on the forums to helping me implement some of the ideas the community has come up with) and all those who have joined and become a member of our community. You are awesome.

Found this from sofia’s blog (she is a member at phpwomen) and busted up laughing. Check it out.

WOOHOO - I passed the test. You are now looking at a ZCE - well cyberly anyway. wonder how long till I get the certificate…

Well I have all this weekend to finish my studying for the ZCE before I take the test on Monday. Did the study guide and the practice book (though I will be hitting them and php.net again). Am I ready for it - I think so though I know that i will have a number of weak areas (streams, filesystems, datetime to name just a few). Hopefully I won’t be asked many questions in those areas that I can’t answer.

So time to hit the books and if I don’t see you before Monday - wish me luck.

Ok so we have been some busy little beavers. We have a domain and hosting (Thanks to Cal Evans graciously volunteering us space) though we will probably be moving that domain to the OmniTI servers who have also volunteered to host us. A mailing list has been set up (feel free to join it here) as well as an IRC channel (#phpwomen on freenode). We are currently figuring out what we want to be and don’t want to be as a community so make your voice heard.

The site (phpwomen.org) is currently only a place holder as we move toward setting it up. Forums should hopefully be up by tomorrow with the rest of the site to follow later.

Currently we have ~25 women involved (I didn’t know we were that many if you consider for every one joined - 10 don’t) but would always welcome more. I hope to see more women join us in forming our community.

(After installing PHP and Apache and making sure everything works perfectly - assume you already know how to do that)

1. install IIS
   • Start->Control Panel->Add/Remove Programs->Add/Remove Windows Components
2. since I wanted Apache and IIS on the same machine, they need to be on seperate ports. I decided IIS would be on port 8080 and changed it like this.
   • Get to the IIS manager
     - Start->All Programs->Administrative Tools->Internet Information Services
   • configure port
     - local computer->Websites->Default Website(right click)->Properties-> on the Website tab change the port
3. follow the php manual’s instructions found here with a few alterations.
   • I installed mine as an ISAPI rather the CGI. For whatever reason with the ISAPI filter and the Application Mapping done I could not get the phpinfo page to rendor correctly in FF (worked in IE but not FF - kept trying to download it). So I removed the ISAPI filter and it worked - go figure. So now I can’t do HTTP Authentification but it works.
   • To get PHP to see the correct php.ini (which I keep in the C:php folder rather then in WINDOWS) need to add a new System variable. You can read how here.
   • make the PHP directory readable to IIS
     • go to the PHP folder (in my case C:\php) right click->Properties->Web Sharing Tab->Share this Folder
       - Then click Edit Properties. Access Permissions - check Read, Application Permissions - click execute

No one step is particularly hard but finding out what to do and how took time. Only took me 2-3 days to figure out this. Hopefully someone else won’t have to wait so long.

Note - I was reminded that I used the wrong dual… would fix it but just my luck the links to it from outside would point to the wrong place.

Ok was in the PHP Community channel (#phpc) on freenode when we started talking about the number of women in PHP world. Elizabeth Naramore and I know we aren’t the only ones (between the 2 of us we could count ~10 other women in the PHP world). There have got to be more then that. So if you are a woman and a PHP developer - stand up and be counted. Feel free to introduce yourself and would you be interested in a PHP women’s group?

Found this. And All I can say is - Way Cool.

Christie’s New York was the center of the “Star Trek” universe yesterday, as the show’s 40th anniversary was marked with the first official auction of memorabilia taken from the archives of the CBS Paramount Television Studios.

It is a 3 day auction so you still have time if you want to place a bid on something. Going to go over and take a look myself.

You can see the catalog here and if you want to place a bid - start here.

Was reading the blogs and came across this which in turn lead me to this. After reading both, I have to say, I agree with both.

Yes - there should be more diversity in the speakers at the various conferences, but I also understand that most people who submit packages for talks are white males (note I said submit packages - not qualified to give). I also feel the quality of speakers should not be reduced to increase diversity. How do we solve this? There is, of course, no easy answer. Best I can think of is for conference organizers to personally contact known influential members who are a minority and ask them to submit a proposal. Then pick the talks for the conference purely on the content of the submitted proposals.

Now on to the bigger topic of the minority of women in the computer world. Is there a minority of women in computing - sure. According to US Census data in 2004 women were 50.8% of the population, yet just entire any IRC channel and if you see 2 - 5 women out of 100 people that is a lot. Why? According to this - part of the problem is at the University level. Women aren’t choosing computers as a major due in part to cultural problems (general population and computing) and “discrimination” (though I’m not sure if I agree with that one).

As a woman who was a tomboy as a child and has only worked in male dominated fields (was a machinist before getting into computers) I may not see the “discriminations”. I admit to also being “forceful” in personality and more then willing to speak up when asked a question or presented with something that is uncomfortable for me (unlike some women). I have no problems letting people know what I think.

I also have dealt with the ‘exclusivity’ of the computer culture though I don’t think it is targeted toward women. I have experienced it used rather ruthlessly actually. I had one class in college where the professor truly felt that if you couldn’t pass his class you shouldn’t be in the computer major - out of a class of 35, only 8 passed. I was the only woman left. And yet - I have also seen the guys on IRC stop everything to help a woman solve a problem with a lot more patience then they would show toward a man.

And finally - the PHP world. All I want to say is that I have always found the PHP World to be an incredably welcoming one whether you are male or female. In it I have found friends, mentors, confidants and more importantly - those who push me to improve myself personally and professionally to be the best I can be simply because they are so much better then I am.

Google crawls into source-code search

Hmm - pretty interesting stuff