If you were ever interested in the early days of PHP (back in the PHP/FI days, pre-3.0 even) Rasmus Lerdorf has a post sharing an old Changelog he created for some of the first PHP version releases.

Ran across this Changelog from a long long time ago. Read from the bottom up. I added the PHP Tools lines at the bottom for context. So many early decisions made on a whim still affecting us today. And then there are things like "Removed **, // and %% operators" which did a vector dot-product and its inverse, I think. I seem to recall deleting it when I tried to document it.

No years on most of the entries, but version 1.90 was on Sept.18, 1995.

It's an interesting read to see some of the thoughts and additions to the language early on. You can see which functions were added way back then and which ones have been dropped since including an entry for October 17th - "First public release of the code".

On PHPBuilder.com Jason Gilmore has posted a first peek at Zend Framework 2, an upcoming reworking of the popular framework with PHP 5.3-centric features.

Version 2.0 seeks to improve upon the current release in a number of ways, focusing on making it easier to get started using the framework, improving performance, and fully embracing the latest PHP language enhancements made available to version 5.3. [...] Although the official release won't be out for several more months, it never hurts to take an early look at what the future holds for a technology used by countless PHP developers around the globe. In this article I'll present a meandering introduction to the key version 2.0 features that I find particularly compelling.

He starts with a brief tutorial on getting the latest version of ZF2 from the git repository and creating basic project. The changes in the framework have fallen into a "rewrite only where it makes sense" mentality and changes have really only been made transparently to the backend or as new features/components like module management and Doctrine 2 integration. He also points out a few resources you can use to keep up to date on the latest from the framework including the changelog, mailing list and the ZF2 blog.

Felix Geisendorfer is taking an interesting approach to defining programming in this new post to the Debuggable blog - he's coming at it more from the level of the perception the programmer has about writing good code.

I believe understanding the patterns in your own thinking will by far make the biggest impact on how good you will get as a programmer. Forget design patterns, forget unit testing, forget all those functions you know. Important is to question why they exist and how they could be improved.

He illustrates through a few examples what he means. He describes one such thought method, the "return home early" process - basically, if something looks too complex for its own good, it probably is. He offers a different way of thinking about it too, a more visual way that can help simplify things even more by laying out the pieces and seeing where they all fit.

Trying to adhere to the philosophy of "release early and release often", Felix Geisendorfer has posted a new item with the latest version of his testing application for the CakePHP framework - CakeTester.

The truth is, the poorest programmer of all is the ones that doesn't release. Because what good am I doing to the world when tinkering for for month on things people are in bad need for today, just to make myself look like all code I ever write is perfect the first time. None at all.

He links to the download and provides some basic install/usage instructions including a code sample (and a screenshot) to get you started.

Trying to adhere to the philosophy of "release early and release often", Felix Geisendorfer has posted a new item with the latest version of his testing application for the CakePHP framework - CakeTester.

The truth is, the poorest programmer of all is the ones that doesn't release. Because what good am I doing to the world when tinkering for for month on things people are in bad need for today, just to make myself look like all code I ever write is perfect the first time. None at all.

He links to the download and provides some basic install/usage instructions including a code sample (and a screenshot) to get you started.

The International PHP Conference has opened up their registration for this Fall's conference today, starting with the Early Bird Specials.

This year's event is happening from November 5th through the 8th at the NH Hotel in Frankfurt. During the two main days of the conference, a wide range of talks will be given, some for every level of developer. Some of the topics included this year are: "PHP & Business", "PHP Design", "PHP Extensions", and "PHP Security".

Early Bird prices start at 299 Euro (for just the Management Day) all the way up to 1069 Euro for the full package (Conference access and Power Workshop days). The Early Bird prices are only good up until September 29th, so be sure to get your registration in early.

The International PHP Conference has opened up their registration for this Fall's conference today, starting with the Early Bird Specials.

This year's event is happening from November 5th through the 8th at the NH Hotel in Frankfurt. During the two main days of the conference, a wide range of talks will be given, some for every level of developer. Some of the topics included this year are: "PHP & Business", "PHP Design", "PHP Extensions", and "PHP Security".

Early Bird prices start at 299 Euro (for just the Management Day) all the way up to 1069 Euro for the full package (Conference access and Power Workshop days). The Early Bird prices are only good up until September 29th, so be sure to get your registration in early.

In this latest post on PHP Kitchen from Demian Turner, there's a reminder that the deadline of the "Early Bird" tickets for the PHP UK Conference is getting close.

There are only a few seats left for London's first PHP Conference happening Feb 10th, 2006. And if you buy before Feb 3rd, 2006 it will only cost you 73 Euro, after that prices go up to (about) 110 Euro. So if you're a PHP developer in the UK, or anywhere in Europe for that matter, reserve this weekend and treat yourself to a great event.

Also, we've had some last minute luck and will now be able to offer wifi access to delegates.

The Early Bird pricing expires on February 3rd and tickets can be purchased directly from the website. The actual conference is happening the 10th of February in London - check out their page for all of the details...

In this latest post on PHP Kitchen from Demian Turner, there's a reminder that the deadline of the "Early Bird" tickets for the PHP UK Conference is getting close.

There are only a few seats left for London's first PHP Conference happening Feb 10th, 2006. And if you buy before Feb 3rd, 2006 it will only cost you 73 Euro, after that prices go up to (about) 110 Euro. So if you're a PHP developer in the UK, or anywhere in Europe for that matter, reserve this weekend and treat yourself to a great event.

Also, we've had some last minute luck and will now be able to offer wifi access to delegates.

The Early Bird pricing expires on February 3rd and tickets can be purchased directly from the website. The actual conference is happening the 10th of February in London - check out their page for all of the details...