In a recent mail out Sams was also kind enough to send me a review copy of Advanced PHP Programming. I didn't get my hands on it until quite late Friday night, since then I've flown half way across the country and driven almost 1000km, but still managed to find the time to read through most of it, basically I couldn't wait to start plugging this title so I had to post this now.


This is a hefty tome, weighing in at 650 pages chocked full of great information about advanced PHP programming. The book is divided into five sections each with several to many chapters. The sections are Implementation and Development Methodologies, Caching, Distributed Applications, Performance, and Extensibility. Where appropriate sample applications are developed to present a point, in other situations a higher level approach is taken.


Covered within various chapters are topics like Error Handling, Unit Testing, Computational Reuse, Session Handling, Benchmarks, Profiling, and detailed information on how the Zend Engine works. While I've used or learned about several of the topics covered within, I think I learned something (whether it was a new approach, completely new information, or a refinement to what I already believed) in every single section.


Ultimately, I think I will become a better PHP programmer for having read this book.


I will be recommending this book to all my friends, and basically to everyone of an intermediate skill level with PHP or above. My friends are going to need to buy their own copy though, as I will not let this one out of my sight.


Details:

Cost: $49.99 (list price)

Type: Trade cover (paperback)

Length: 650 pages, 23 chapters

Buy from Amazon: Advanced PHP Programming ($31.49)

Okay,


Well, I haven’t updated in quite a while even though there’s been a lot going on.


First of all, my server got hacked, the attack vector is known and understood and it had nothing to do with any of the web applications I was running or hosting. This page is coming to you from a new server with another host. I was rather disappointed with the level of support I received after the attack was recognized, and I needed to change hosts anyways, this seemed like as good a time as any. My apologies to those I host for the unexpected downtime during the switchover.


For those of you without too much computing experience, having your server get hacked is kind of like having your house get broken into. Except you can’t just walk around and see what’s missing, the bugler/attacker didn’t just walk in and take stuff, they also did things like install secret passages in and out of your house, and replace your blender with one that looks exactly like your old one, except this one also unlocks the front door. As a result, once you’ve been hacked successfully you need to start over since it’s nearly impossible to prove that your machine is actually clean and safe to use.


I’ve had to re-do my blog and moved the posts over to the new copy, I’ve had some plans on an entire site redesign sitting on the back burner for a few months, I’m going to use this as a catalyst to make that change. I’m not sure if the comment conversion worked, or even if they work now. If you post a new comment and it doesn’t work please just send me an email.


Second, I was invited to speak at PHP|Tek in Orlando Florida during the last week of April. I had the chance to give two talks there "Speedy PHP" and "Simple Web Services: REST". I think they went over pretty well, it was a whirlwind trip with a third talk being given at FullSail so I didn’t get to spend nearly enough time interacting with fellow attendees getting feedback. I’d like to thank Marco and the entire team at PHP|Architect for putting on such a great conference,


Third, Professional Web APIs with PHP has finally entered production! With a little extra help I got it in at the end of last month. It’s done! Now I can concentrate on the security title I am working on with Christian Wenz and Ammar Ibrahim! As a side note I finally got a chance to meet Christian at PHP|Tek.


Fourth, I’m done University! I wrote my last exam the day before I left for Florida, with luck I should be Paul Reinheimer BComm, BCS, ZCE by the end of the summer. I wont be attending convocation however as I will be away at a wedding in Spain that week.


Fifth, I’ve moved. I’m living in Waterloo for the next two months, I need to make a lot of trips back and forth to Toronto over the next several weeks, so getting closer is definitely a good thing. I needed to get out of my old place regardless, so it was an easy move.


Sixth, I’ve gone through a weekend of leadership training for the three weeks I’m going to be spending in Norway with CISV this summer. It was a great weekend, a big thanks to all the CISV volunteers and leadership trainers who made the weekend such a success.