I had seen this db structure in other project, but didn't know that it was called EAV. For those who don't read php|architect, EAV describes a method of saving a large set of attributes, only some of which apply to an individual entity. Normally you would create a table, with a row for each entity and save each attribute in a column. With EAV you save each attribute as a row.

He suggests two ways to do the modeling - the more "common" way and an alternative way that splits up the data types to make querying simpler (into scalars and arrays). A sample database structure and example query for it are included.

Here's his list:

• OO code is less performant than procedural code
• The backend is the most important part of development
• Graphical designers are good at user interface design
• The existence of a superior programming language
• XML is more economic than a DB

While the others touch on some topics that could be PHP related, he focuses on it in #1. He points out that sometimes making classes and objects and interfaces and...well, you get the idea...is just too much and that procedural code can be the quick hit you need.

If you're not using phpUnderControl, you owe it to yourself to check it out, as I think 'continuous integration' will likely change the way you think of development. I've used CruiseControl in the past for PHP, but the PHP-specifics phpUnderControl brings to the project are too much to pass up.

The page mentions some of the common issues you might have in getting started - installation problem, the use of the PHP Code Sniffer and the Project Mess Detector from PHPUnit.

Just before the July 4th holiday, Jim Dillard, the IBM alliance manager at Zend, and Ron Newman, who is chairman of COMMON's Advocacy Team and president of technology consulting firm Newmark Technologies, sent out a joint appeal via email for people to join the Zend Advisory Group.

The idea behind the group is to get together a bunch of COMMON members and have them provide direct input to Zend so the unique capabilities of the System i platform can be addressed more fully by Zend's products and to help Zend better understand how to interface with and deliver products to midrange customers.

Wondering if you (or your company) are in the group they're looking for? Here's some of the requirements:

• Are you currently a programmer using the System i?
• Have you installed Zend Core for i5/OS?
• Do you have a PHP application running now?
• Do understand the process of creating a call to the DB2 database?
• Can you invoke RPG commands via the PHP toolkit?

If this is you and you'd like ot get in on the group, send an email along to Ron Newman for more information.

I was very pleased, that PHP 5 introduced type hints, although they are not available for primitives like string, int, boolean, etc. Still, I'd like to see the object type hint introduced in any future version of PHP that allows me to specify, that a method or function only accepts an object, regardless of the type of the object.

He gives the example of Java's handling of the functionality and what PHP does with the same type of code. He also mentions that, via the Reflection API extension, some of this is possible already, so why not just include it from here on out?

Seeing the number of problems and mistakes PHP coders encounter repeatedly I set out to make this list of the 10 most common problems and mistakes done by PHP coders.

Included on the list are some of the usual suspects:

• Not escaping entities
• Not Escaping SQL input
• Requiring and including files using untrusted data
• Syntax errors

• phpMyFAQ
• ODFaq
• Lethal Penguin's FAQMasterFlex
• All
• None

Be sure to check out this week's poll that asks which of the four options is the most common perspective regarding objects in PHP.

Choices for the poll were:

• Factory pattern
• Singleton pattern
• Observer Pattern
• Decorator Pattern
• Others

Be sure to check out and vote on this week's poll that asks, out of the given list of FAQ management applications, which does it the most effectively.

The choices for this poll were "Performance", "Easy to work with", "Being web-like", "Varied choice of tools", "It has good community back up", "None". Coming out on top was the performance factor with a vote percentage of 20.3%. Next on the list was that it was easy to work with at 15.2%. And, coming in at number three (just barely) - the varied choice of tools that it offers.

They have a new poll up this week too, with a timely question on a topic a lot of PHP developers are working with right now - "Which is the Most Common Design Pattern?" Head on over and cast your vote today!

The options were:

• Using MySQL directly
• Not using auto-increment functionality
• Using multiple databases
• Not using relations
• The n+1 pattern

Be sure to vote in this week's poll that asks "Which is Truest?" - given several popular opinions on PHP, pick the one that you think is the most true.