In his latest post Brandon Savage follows up his previous post (about learning the language first) that points out that frameworks are important/useful but they shouldn't be the focus.

In writing about how the framework you learn doesn’t matter, I hoped to advance a position that articulated the fact that among the many frameworks, picking the right one is less important than getting a solid grasp on the underlying language. In fact, frameworks have tremendous advantages to them. They take care of a great deal of things for us, things that most applications need and nobody wants to write every time they need it. Frameworks are tremendously helpful.

He points out that learning a framework first and depending on it for common functions limits your skills and hinders you from the power of the language (PHP) itself. He suggests that it's not a "language or framework" debate, but more of a "language then framework" perspective.

If you've been around the PHP community for any length of time (or even at all it seems) you've probably heard of or seen something about php|architect - the magazine, their training and even their popular annual conference, php|tek. News came out yesterday that the php|architect group has been acquired by Musktreers.me (several of which happen to be well-known PHP community members).

Over the course of the last ten years, our focus has always been education—not just of our readers and customers, but also our own. We taught ourselves about publishing, organizing events, training, and dealing with people from all walks of life. Many of the things we learned were fun, and some not so much; all were very interesting. Most of all, we have learned to rely on the PHP community, which we watched grow and evolve alongside our favourite language.

[...] Thus, as the end of our first decade in business approaches and we have decided that we must move on, it’s important for us to know that php|architect will remain in good hands. We are happy to announce that, effective January 1st, Musketeers.me LLC will take over the php|architect brand and all activities associated with it, including our magazine, books, training, and events.

You can find some more personal reflections from other members of the php|architect staff on their own blogs - Marco Tabini and Beth Tucker Long - and the official mention on the Musketeers.me blog.

In this recent post to his site, Anthony Ferrara takes an the phrase "reinventing the wheel" and wonders if, maybe, it's not such a bad thing sometimes.

"Don't Reinvent The Wheel" is a phrase that we hear used all the time in software development. Usually it's used in the context where a library exists to do what the user wants, but they are writing their own. While the sentiment is usually correct, I can't stand the implication of the phrase. Therefore, I can't stand it when people use that phrase without understanding what it really means. Let me explain...

He notes that, while there might be things out there that do something well, it doesn't mean that the "wheel is perfect" and you shouldn't venture out and try something new. He points out two places where it could be good - when a general solution doesn't work and for education/research.

Even as a senior developer, if you never try to reinvent the wheel from time to time, you'll never push your capabilities. You'll never expand your conceptual model of problems. And if you never do that, the world will blow past you.

ServerGrove has made an announcement on their blog today about an initiative they're starting to help in their own way to improve the PHP training ecosystem across the community - their "PHP Education Initiative".

PHP Training is an integral part of our PHP community and there are a lot of folks providing great training services making the PHP community safer and stronger. ServerGrove has long supported PHP education by sponsoring PHP User Groups and PHP Conferences, but we realised we have overlooked professional trainers. That is why we are pleased to announce our PHP Education Initiative.

Their part in the project is to provide resources (individual VPSes) for each of the individuals involved to give them a solid platform to work from. It's available to students, educator or user group leader involved in a PHP-centric training session. For more information on getting access to this resource, check out the post for contact information and what will be included.

Chris Roane has a new post to his Montana Programmer blog talking about some of the things he's learned over the past few years in his development work.

Over the last few years I’ve become more familiar with multiple systems. I go over a few things that I’ve learned and the areas that I hope to improve upon over the next year.

His list of technology (including SVN, Drupal, WordPress and things like mailing list software and linux) serve as a good example to the wider world of developers out there to not become complacent in your skills and to be constantly learning. It doesn't have to be amazing, high level topics to be important - some of the best tools are the little things that help you work smarter and faster.

Nick Halstead has posted two more programming tips in his series - this time they cover "non-coding" and "XHTML analytics:

The first, tip #7, was written up by Jonathan Holland. He talks about a method of using metrics software that works correctly with XHTML syntax. His example script basically does a dynamic add to the page when it's loaded to put the script tag in after the validation has taken place.

The next tip, #8 (written by Dordea Cosmin), looks at "non coding" types of things you can do to help work towards success in your company. These sorts of things include diplomacy, being friendly, and continuing education.

Nick Halstead has posted two more programming tips in his series - this time they cover "non-coding" and "XHTML analytics:

The first, tip #7, was written up by Jonathan Holland. He talks about a method of using metrics software that works correctly with XHTML syntax. His example script basically does a dynamic add to the page when it's loaded to put the script tag in after the validation has taken place.

The next tip, #8 (written by Dordea Cosmin), looks at "non coding" types of things you can do to help work towards success in your company. These sorts of things include diplomacy, being friendly, and continuing education.

With a reminder from the Zend Developer Zone today, Cal Evans re-mentions the upcoming webcast spotlighting the new (soon to be released) PHP 5 Certification.

Join Zend's Education Programs Manager, Dhwani Vahia, in discovering the new Zend PHP 5 Certification.

In this webcast, she will introduce the new Certification and cover: why Zend is implementing this exam, what the new exam covers, testing methodologies, upcoming support products, and more!

If you'd like to be in the know and find out all you can about this new certification, be sure to sign up and check it out on August 4th at 1PM EDT.