PHP TestFest 2008 results

On May 11, 2008 I already posted about the joint efforts between phpGG.nl and PHPBelgium to improve the quality of the PHP language, by testing the code during PHP TestFest.

Today php.net posted the PHP TestFest wrapup and it's quite stunning to see that we (both phpGG.nl and PHPBelgium members) are mentioned as winners.

One of the co-founders of PHPBelgium, Felix De Vliegher, has become top submitter and even though PHP TestFest only lasted a few hours, Felix has commited many more tests afterwards. He now has been granted access to commit to the PHP core (and will be probably be mentioned within the PHP credentials too).

The other winners are:

• Eric Stewart
• Håvard Eide
• Marc Veldman
• Michelangelo van Dam
• Rein Velt
• Rob Young
• Sami Greenbury
• Sebastian Deutsch
• Sebastian Schürmann
• Stefan Koopmanschap

All winners will receive an elePHPant from Nexen.

Since this year's PHP TestFest was a huge success, although it was organized by local PHP User Groups, it will be most likely the start for organizing PHP TestFest on a regular basis. Of course it will be announced here as well.

Personally I would like to thank Sebastian Bergmann to be our host on this event, without him we probably wouldn't have made it this far.

The world according to iTunes

When I had just my iPod, I just used iTunes to manage my own CD collection and download podcasts. But getting in contact with more advanced iTunes users, I learned to really use it as my in-house music store, buying albums of artists I like.

And there I noticed already a few differences between the Belgian store and the US store. Where my American friends got extras with their purchase, I just got my music even though we both bought the same album.

They (my American friends) also told me about great movies and TV shows within iTunes. Even Steve Jobs announced it in his keynote, but I couldn't find it anywhere in my localized iTunes.

Now I have the latest iPhone 3G and being able to use wide screen video I do want to access those movies and TV shows, and download some cool applications as well. But I need a US address and a US credit card billing address ! I thought we were living in a global village, where I can buy stuff from anywhere in the world.

It's known that Apple is innovating the most advanced stuff, but they should also take into account they're no longer the PC shop around the corner. So on this part I believe Apple failed as a leading company. And, I'm a sucker for marketing so when I saw SJ's presentation of Apple TV, I wanted one as well. They're on sale in my local Apple shop, even in discount now. But what's the use for it. We don't have movies or TV shows in our iTunes and displaying pictures I can do that on my digital media center.

Is Apple forcing me to go shopping at amazon.com ?!?

Wanted: Graphical Designer/Web Developer

Job summary:

For creating the ultimate web experience, we are looking for a creative graphical designer with a passion for designs, accessibility and performance. Are you passionate by front-end web design and development, and are you willing to implement the ideas of our international team of marketingboys, then it's you who we want ! You'll be working from Merelbeke near Ghent (Belgium), from where you'll be working together with teammembers from the UK and Israel, and soon from other countries as well.

We are looking for an expert in the field of following technologies:

• CSS, HTML/XHTML/XML, AJAX
• Javascript (ExtJS)
• Flash Action Scripting
• Photoshop
• PHP 5 is considered a major bonus

• You are creative and have experience in a similar job ?
• You're anxious to reposition a pixel in the wrong spot ?
• You're able to direct international internet designers and other offices ?
• You understand the complexitiy of multi-lingual sites and copywriting ?
• You know the difference between photography and topphotography ?
• You speak fluently English and Dutch and are able to understand a bit of French ?
• You're service minded and are able to work precise under stress ?
• You don't have a 9-to-5 mentality ?
• You've got a keen eye for usability ?
• You're able to keep up with the no-nonsense mentality of a quick growing start-up of successful Internet entrepreneurs ?
• You fit into our informal and professional team ?
• You have a strong responsibility feeling and can organize your work well ?
• You produce good quality and this within tight deadlines ?
• You've got a perfect discipline to work on your own ?

If so, we can offer you:

• A standalone position with a large responsibility within a young and dynamic team
• A fun place to work within an international start-up
• A company in full expansion
• A competitive salary package
• Offices in Merelbeke (Ghent) but telecommuting possible

Did we catch your interest ?

Contact Mike Boon (mike [at] enerlogik [dot] be) - 0476/54.09.25
Verlorenbroodstraat 63B, 9820 Merelbeke

My iPhone 3G review

On July 11 the long awaited iPhone 3G was launched in Belgium. You could buy the 16GB version in any Mobistar shop or Apple store for € 615. This high price is caused by the fact that Belgian law prohibits the sale of one product combined with another different product.

When the door opened at 10am, another surprice was ahead. The Mobistar shop had only 25 iPhones in stock. They gave preference to Mobistar customers or people who would become new customers. Although this kind of action was totally unacceptable, little could be done at that time. I took a cheap mobile plan for € 10/month. As soon as I got home, I cancelled this plan immediatly.

Now the iPhone is exactly what I expected: a great communication centre. With it's integrated wifi and 3G it has mega powers to rule the Internet. A great phone, what can I say.

But there are some things that I miss here, although there obvious. First of all I can't send contact details to another phone using SMS or Bluetooth. Maybe this feature exists, but I haven't found it yet.

Another thing is that you can't store stuff on it like you could on an iPod. And now with MobileMe you have a cloud based inernet storage (iDisk) but I'm still figuring out how to access that storage with the iPhone.

In conclusion: a great communication device that litterly puts the Internet in your pocket. If you're a social community type like me, this phone gives you everything you wish for. And if it doesn't exists yet, you can create it yourself using the iPhone SDK.

Dutch PHP Conference Wrap-up

It has already been a couple of days since the Dutch PHP Conference 2008 took place, but work and a newborn son prevented me to post a little wrap-up of the event.

Each year Ibuildings organizes a PHP Conference together with Zend Technologies mainly focussed on developers and businesses from the Netherlands, but each year more and more foreigners find their way to Amsterdam. I've met people from the USA, UK, Belgium, Luxembourg, Germany, Italy and France. Maybe more nationalities were there, but I haven't met them. So I think both Ibuildings and Zend need to change the name into Dutch International PHP Conference.

The introduction to the event was given by Ibuildings CTO Ivo Jansch, where he threw elePHPants into the audience and started a riot (kidding).

Keynote
Zeev Suraski, Co-founder & CTO of Zend Technologies talked about how he and Andi Gutmanns got involved in PHP and how Zend Technologies was founded.

Marco Tabini, all-rounder at PHP|Architect compared php development with true mayonaise (olive oil, limon and an egg) and gave us a good laugh right before lunch.

Tracks
I missed the afternoon track of Gaylord Aulke about "An Infrastructure for Team Based PHP Development" because I got caught up in a discussion with Terry Chay about photo cameras. Sorry Gaylord, I'll check out your slides later.

But I did manage to see Lorna Jane Mitchel's talk about "PHP Deployment with Subversion", a fresh look with a few new tricks for me to use in my day-to-day development role. And I just love the Nabaztag Subversion integration !

Lorna Jane is a PHP Developer at Ibuildings and is also representative for phpwomen.org, an organization to assist women in PHP development and to have fun. Being female is not a requirement to join them.

After the coffee & tea break, I attended Matthew Weier O' Phinney's presentation "Using Zend Framework to Institute Best Practices" where the new Zend Framework 1.5 is been taken to a whole new level: faster, better and more extendable then ever.

Closing Keynote
Terry Chay gave us again a wonderful session where he convinced us that "the Internet is an ogre". Well done Terry !

Personal view on this event
Ibuildings and Zend Technologies have outdone themselves again. Good speakers and a very nice conference setting made this event again a "whish-you-were-there" kind of thing. And their give-away t-shirts are just great: they used this conference as a rock festival and the list of speakers as the rock artists that appeared there.

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We got a son !

On Sunday, June 8 2008 at 12:19pm my darling wife Friedel has given birth to our son Xander. It's a healthy boy weighing 2,76kg (6.08lbs) and is 48cm (18.19") in height.

First images are now online on flickr.com, but here are already a few:

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php|architect's Guide to Enterprise PHP Development

On php|architect website you can now pre-order a printed version of "Guide to Enterprise PHP Development" by Ivo Jansch, CTO of iBuildings.

This book is a valuable tool for anyone who's involved into professional PHP development, weather it is on an enterprise level or not. It explains not only how PHP is evolved to become an enterprise level programming language, but it shows you how to implement the "enterprise way" into your own project environment.

A must-read for every professional PHP developer, but also for project managers, team leaders and other software engineers.