One of the challenges that comes with moving to MongoDB is figuring how to best model your data. While most developers have internalized the rules of thumb for designing schemas for RDBMSs, these rules don't always apply to MongoDB. The simple fact that documents can represent rich, schema-free data structures means that we have a lot of viable alternatives to the standard, normalized, relational model. Not only that, MongoDB has several unique features, such as atomic updates and indexed array keys, that greatly influence the kinds of schemas that make sense.

For more information, check out their event page, complete with details about the venue and maps to the location.

Have a user group meeting coming up you'd like to announce? let us know!

The PHP Community Conference is all about you! Come on out to Nashville for a different kind of conference this spring. We're going to hear from community members about projects they're working on and how they were inspired. It's going to be a fun, laid-back event where you and the people you'll meet can collaborate to build some awesome applications of your own with PHP. Ticket sales will begin on February 3, 2011.

Their Call for Papers is already open and will stay open until January 31st - less than 20 days away! They're looking for topics that focus less of the technical how-to you might find at other conferences and more on the "real world" happenings and projects the PHP community is working on. Speakers will have airfare and hotel costs paid for. To submit a proposal, send it in an email over to proposals@phpcon.org today!

The remaining question was not if, but when should we do the next one? This question can now be answered: On the weekend of April 26th / 27th, the PHP Unconference 2008 will once again take place in our beautiful city.

They're going with the mix of predefined sessions and on-the-spot talks given by anyone that wants to get up to speak (proposed to the group attending and selected based on the popularity). It will be held there at the local University there in Hamburg again. You can keep up with the latest information on the unconfernece over on its (German only) blog.

• PHP Essentials - a beginner-level introduction to PHP programming. If you're new to PHP, this is where you should start.
• PHP 5 Certification - prepare for the Zend certification exam here. While this course is focused on ZCE, it is also an excellent intermediate-level PHP course.
• Professional PHP - take your code to the next level. This course covers advanced PHP techniques.

Other articles included in this month's edition include:

• "Developing a Plugin Architecture for PHP" by Titus Barik
• "Thoughts from an Open Source Recruiter" as told by Brent Marinaccio
• "Aspect-oriented Software Development and PHP" by Dmitry Sheiko

And, of course, the two returning columnists, Jeff Moore looks at properties in classes/objects and Ilia Alshanetsky talks security with a little SQL injection "fun".

As always, you can either subscribe to this fine publication or just order this issue.

To put your name in the hat, simply head to the entry page and fill in the form at the bottom. The winner will be notified after the drawing has taken place. If you'd like more information on the book itself, you can check out the sample chapter, table of contents, or just visit the site for the book.

For complete information about the meeting or the group, check out their site at phpug.ch.

The topic of this month's meeting is "containerism" (how simple container data structures can make a programmer's life a lot easier) from Maarten Manders and will start at 7pm. A map is available for you to find your way.

Everyone is welcome, so come hang out, enjoy a good talk and socialize with your fellow PHP coders following the meeting.]]> Mon, 10 Apr 2006 15:13:13 -0500 http://www.phpdeveloper.org/news/5119 http://www.phpdeveloper.org/news/5119 a post today with the details of their latest meeting - tonight (April 6th) at 7pm in Tucker, Georgia.

For nearly a month, the Zend Framework has been the great talk of the PHP community. Just one day following Atlanta PHP's March meeting, the Zend Framework preview release was announced, and folks have been eager to download, play with it, and provide their feedback. At our April meeting, Ben Ramsey will take the Zend Framework for a test drive, outlining its current state, the direction it's heading, and rounding out the presentation with a quick tutorial on using the framework (code samples included).

The meeting will take place in the usual place and will start with a "tips & tricks" section and a more social time at the Mellow Mushroom following.]]> Thu, 06 Apr 2006 07:14:52 -0500 http://www.phpdeveloper.org/news/5068 http://www.phpdeveloper.org/news/5068 their April meeting happening on the 11th.

The topic for the evening will be "containerism", a look at container data structures and how they can make a programmer's life easier. Maarten Manders will be presenting.

The meeting will be held at the search.ch offices starting at 19:00 with a social time following. For complete information on the meeting, check out their site.]]> Wed, 29 Mar 2006 18:52:36 -0600