In a new post today, Fernando Bassani puts the PHP-Java bridge to the test in an effort to stretch the abilities of PHP to fit his needs.

Last week, in a meeting with my boss and another developer, we've decided to test the PHP/Java Bridge. As the project that we are currenlty working (a manager for PLC networks) has grown a lot, we have noticed that we need to do some things that PHP can't do by itself. We often use shell_exec() to execute some shell commands. But it wouldn't fit in this case, as we need some specific things.

He goes through the decision process on with implementation to use (they went with the Java bridge) and the process of getting it set up and working on a Ubuntu system. Sample code to test that everything's in working order is included.