PHPDeveloper.org

Yet Another Web Development Blog: Dear PHP, I think it's time we broke up.

Tue, 19 Dec 2006 11:56:00 -0600

As anyone that's worked with a programming language for a long time knows, you get to know the ins and outs of it pretty well. You get a good feel for how it all works and how feel confident in your skills with it. But what happens if you decide to move on and leave the relationship? Check out this take on just such a situation from the Yet Another Web Development Blog.

We've been together for about five years now. I've had a lot of good times and I've really enjoyed being with you. However, the more we work together, the more concerned I get about our future. I'm sorry, but you don't have the elegance that inspires me to want marry you. I think it's time we broke up.

Some of the reasons given for moving on is PHP's seeming identity crisis, consistency in function names/functionality, and performance issues that were just too much.

Despite being a bit anti-PHP, it's still a well-written piece. Check it out...

Community News: phpMyID (formerly myOpenID) Beta 0.3 Released

Mon, 18 Dec 2006 18:47:00 -0600

The myOpenID project (which has taken on a new name - phpMyID) has released the latest version of the utility, beta v0.3.

phpMyID is a single user (though, if you were so inclined, you could easily turn it into a multi-user setup) IdP, or "Identity Provider" for the OpenID framework. It's a single PHP script with minimal dependancies. You don't need a database, you don't need to make your filesystem writable, you don't need to download any libraries, and you don't need to recompile PHP. Okay, well, you shouldn't need to do any of that.

You can get all of the details on the project and the latest downloads from their website including how to install and use the tool.

Wez Furlong's Blog: Identity/Authentication and PHP OpenSSL updates in the pipeline

Thu, 26 Oct 2006 13:27:50 -0500

In his latest post, Wez Furlong shares some of the updates he's made to his blog - specifically when it comes to the external user authentication system he's implemented.

Why do I have an external authentication mechanism? I don't want to maintain a user database just for my blog. It's more moving parts and requires things like sending email pings to random email addresses and mechanisms for resetting or retrieving a forgotten password. Not to mention that it's yet another username/password to be remembered by the person doing the commenting.

So, instead, he authenticates against the php.net cvs setup for any and all users of his site. He transitions from this over to the main point of the post - his thoughts on authentication, specifically the move towards a more centralized resource to bounce the user's information off of. He mentions TypeKey and OpenID as two technologies that are moving in the right direction.

Bringing it back to PHP, Wez notes that the PHP support for both of these technologies is very lacking, but he's been working on a patch for the openssl extension that could help that significantly.