One of the things that came up is the conflicts that can arise with internal classes. In PHP 5.3 this would alias the class Interval in the namespace PEAR::Date to the class Interval. For now, this code would work just fine. However, if PHP would introduce a class "Interval" at some point in the future (and PHP can do this as it owns the global namespace) then the above code would suddenly stop working

He offers a simple solution that can prevent this sort of conflict for the future - defining your "use" and then creating a new instance of the namespace into a variable instead of just an "as".

PHP's next edition, V6, includes new features and syntax improvements that will make it easier to use from an object-oriented standpoint. Other important features, such as Unicode support in many of the core functions, mean that PHP V6 is positioned for better international support and robustness.

New features he mentions include namespace support, improvements to the native Unicode support as well as a few of the things that will be permanently retired like the php.ini settings for magic_quotes and register_globals.

With 1.5, everything that makes the framework attractive has quite simply been boosted. We now have a fully comprehensive complex view aggregation/templating system to play with, we have a forms component, translations are integrated as view helpers. Just rattling off several new features is enough to pull together just how comprehensive and cohesive the framework has become over it's 1.0 predecessor. It's that significant.

He talks about things like Zend_Layout and additions to Zend_Form as well as the community around the framework and some of the places that the framework and its process are still lacking a bit.

I was happy to contribute to their recently released June edition. I did an interview with the new PEAR Group on the future of PEAR. I'm glad to see such enthusiasm and collaboration among the newly elected group.

You can check out the issue and order your copy from the International PHP Magazine website (here's the table of contents too showing the rest of the articles/columns in this month's edition.

I posted this rather lengthy argument in the Zend fw-core mailing list after I learned that the Zend_Filter_Input component had been dropped from the Zend Framework. I have used this component extensively in various projects, and had written up a contribution to the Zend DevZone that described using a bootstrap script to block direct access by your developers to the superglobal user input arrays ($_GET, $_POST, $_COOKIE, etc).

He includes the post and talks about things like the good side of PHP's popularity and the bad side (like developers that cannot write secure applications). He targets the Zend Framework as one tool that has made it slightly harder to write secure applications (as of the move from 0.7 to 0.8 because of small things like having to create a filter object to do any filtering).

The key to his complaint is the removal of the Zend_Filter_Input component which, from his perspective, made things easier to secure and made for simpler and cleaner code.

I started to collect ideas for features that I would like to see in PHPUnit but currently lack the time to implement myself.

The two listed in this post are:

• Mutation testing - an approach where the testing tool makes some change to the tested code, runs the tests, and if the tests pass displays a message saying what it changed
• Web Interface for Test Result Database - output viewer for the database logging PHPUnit is now capable of.

As of February 22, 2007, I have called an official referendum on the future of PEAR. There is a news item on the front page of pear.php.net with the same instructions in this message. This election is only open to PEAR developers who have contributed to the development of a PEAR package at any time in history, but you must have the ability to log in at pear.php.net, and must have "pear.dev" karma.

There's three options - "don't change anything", Greg's constitution, or Anant Narayanan's constitution. The results will pick the path that PEAR will follow and the future of the project. If you have access and the pear.dev karma, head over here and cast your vote today.

New release, new plans! First off, a new build of PHPSecInfo is out. Version 0.1.2, build 20061218. Per usual, get your new version from http://phpsec.org/projects/phpsecinfo/.

New features include:

• Code is now licensed under '�New BSD'� license. See LICENSE
• fix bug in post_max_size check where upload_max_size value was being checked
• Now providing an md5 hash for releases

If you'd like to contribute tests or other resources to the project, head over to its homepage and let them know.

It's been three months since PHP Versions in the Wild. What does Nexen report about PHP version adoption statistics for November? [...] Nexen's PHP Adoption Stats for November 2006 show that PHP 4.4 has surpassed PHP 4.3. PHP 5 is in the double-digits, but it's still a fraction of PHP 4's popularity, despite its climb.

He also comments that, for those working towards a PHP6 release, it "must be frustrating" to see PHP5 adoption having taken such a long time to really get a foothold.

Developers and users alike were comfortable in their PHP4 world and didn't want to branch out to this newfangled thing that is PHP5. They hear stories of how it breaks things and only causes trouble and don't want to make the move. But finally, some brave souls put their feet in the water, saw that there were no piranhas in sight and dove right in. Thankfully, more and more have followed them hearing the success and ease with which PHP5 has made things in their applications.

So, what's your excuse? Why haven't you made the switch? And will you follow those leader's example and dive right into PHP6 when it comes around?

Developers will eventually start using it, it will take some time to go from the PHP way to SDO way. It would be easier to jump into SDO once better, more easily interpreted and simple to understand tutorials, code samples, and support is available. IBM tutorials are a little bit technical, with words and complex pictures (UML). Just give me code and explain how it works and let me run with the SDO scissors in my hand.

He talks about the contributions that both Zend and IBM have made to the effort and the lack of features (well, the duplication of current PHP features - XML and database functionality). He has a positive outlook for the overall future of the project, stating that:

I'm quite sure that enough PHP developers are going to embrace SDO in the coming years depending on the coverage it gets that IBM and Zend's investment will pay off in the end.