Private Methods Considered Harmful

The following is an excerpt from a draft version of Do This, Not That: Object Oriented Development. Sign up today to be the first to get a copy this week!

A few weeks ago, I was tasked with integrating a library that was designed by someone else. This library was intended to access APIs and return the data so that it could be used by my application. This seemed straightforward enough, except that the API I was working with had a few quirks, namely that it interpreted the query string directly, and so it was possible to have a query string similar to this:

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Introducing “Do This, Not That” For PHP Developers

When I was a new PHP developer, I discovered that there’s a myriad of solutions, options, configurations and frameworks available. I thought, how does one sift through all the noise and get something done? How can anyone have a grasp of the best practices in PHP, and make sense out of all the options? Which extensions do we use, and how do we use them? What’s a best practice, anyway?

This is why I’ve decided to offer “Do This, Not That” for beginning and intermediate PHP developers looking to find a better grasp on precisely how to develop in PHP. This great series of highly focused e-books will offer tips, tricks and best practices focused on core areas of PHP development, including databases, security, filtering, regular expressions, configuration and more. Since it will be a series of tightly targeted solutions, developers will be able to pick all, some or just one of the offerings that solves their specific problem(s).

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Working From Home: Eighteen Months

It’s been a little over a year and a half since I left the daily grind of a commute and began working from my home office. It’s been an amazing year filled with challenges, adventures, struggles and blessings. I’m like most developers: I relished the idea of having a quiet place to work, of getting more done, and of getting back 2 hours a day that I previously spent on commuting to and from my job.

I’ve learned a lot in my year of working from home. There have been some great moments, and some low ones. Overall it was a great move. So what is working from home really like?

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And The Winners Are…

Yesterday afternoon I used a random number generator to select three winners for The PHP Playbook.

I’m excited to announce that the winners of the PHP Playbook are:

• Péter Halász of the United Kingdom
• Ashar Javed of Germany
• Tomasz Kowalczyk of Poland

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It’s About The Customer, Stupid

Another day, another article posted on Hacker News that describes PHP’s failures and complexities as though they actually mattered.

The truth is, only programmers care about languages. Only programmers care about the methods, routines, algorithms and organization of programming languages. Only programmers argue about coding styles, whether white space or brackets is the best way to separate code blocks, and about design patterns.

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Last Chance To Win “The PHP Playbook”!

Back in March, I announced that I was giving away three copies of The PHP Playbook to three lucky winners. Since I’m selecting winners on April 15th, this is your last week to register to win your copy!

Since not everyone can win, I’m also excited to announce that PHP Architect, the publisher of my book, has provided me with a discount code worth up to 20% off the book. However, in order to receive it you must have entered the contest!

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