On NetTuts.com there's a great list of tips and things to keep in mind if you're a budding programmer - a set of common pitfalls to watch out for as you hone your skills.

Regardless of our current skill level, we all were beginners at one point in time. Making classic beginner mistakes comes with the territory. Today, we’ve asked a variety of Nettuts+ staff authors to chime in with their list of pitfalls and solutions - in a variety of languages. Learn from our mistakes; don’t do these things!

The article starts off with some Javascript tips, but quickly gets into some more PHP specific things like:

• Use Ternary When Appropriate
• Use Guard Clauses
• Keep Methods Maintainable
• Avoid Deep Nesting
• Don’t Overuse Variables

There's also two "extras" thrown in more concerning general programming practices - using methods to represent actions and some basic code readability suggestions.

In this new post to reddit.com the question is posed, "is it better to be an expert or all-arounder in web development?"

Is it better to be an Expert in a framework like Zend (a certified Zend Developer) or know a little bit about everything. [...] In sum, it's just taking too much time for me to master Drupal, Magento, and other popular CMS/Frameworks. So I'm wondering if I should just specialize is one framework/CMS.

Most of the comments follow along the same idea - it's good to be an "all-arounder" and know several different technologies, but it's also good to be an expert (or as close as you can) in one or more technologies. As one comment puts it:

In my experience, it's best to have a specialty, but not have a too narrow focus. There's a lot going into a web site - programming, design, usability, marketing, economy, etc. Understanding a number of those fields makes it easier to work with other people.

The PEAR Blog has posted a request for ideas to help work up a new developer FAQ they can hand out to potential PEAR developers as a "jumpstart" guide to working with the package repository.

New developers need quite a time to familiarize themselves with the rules and conventions in PEAR. With the new role of mentors in PEAR2, they will have a contact person they can ask in that cases. But in many cases the same questions will get asked which will get boring for the mentoring developer, so we need a Mini-FAQ with a list of things the newbie should know.

They're looking for comments posted to the entry to help define this guide. So far, a suggested outline has been proposed by David Coallier for both general information and developer-specific details.

The PEAR Blog has posted a request for ideas to help work up a new developer FAQ they can hand out to potential PEAR developers as a "jumpstart" guide to working with the package repository.

New developers need quite a time to familiarize themselves with the rules and conventions in PEAR. With the new role of mentors in PEAR2, they will have a contact person they can ask in that cases. But in many cases the same questions will get asked which will get boring for the mentoring developer, so we need a Mini-FAQ with a list of things the newbie should know.

They're looking for comments posted to the entry to help define this guide. So far, a suggested outline has been proposed by David Coallier for both general information and developer-specific details.

The International PHP Magazine has posted the results from their latest poll on their site today. The question of the week this time was "which of the following is your favorite category of PHP functionality?"

Among the options, there was "General PHP", "PHP Design", "PHP & XML" and "PHP Security". The one that came out on top, however, was "PHP & Databases" with 26.4% of the vote. Next in line was tied up between two options - "General PHP" and "PHP & Business/Ingegration" both with 15.3% of the votes.

Be sure anc check out (and vote on) their new poll for the week asking readers what they think is the biggest advantage of making to move to PHP5 for their scripts.

The International PHP Magazine has posted the results from their latest poll on their site today. The question of the week this time was "which of the following is your favorite category of PHP functionality?"

Among the options, there was "General PHP", "PHP Design", "PHP & XML" and "PHP Security". The one that came out on top, however, was "PHP & Databases" with 26.4% of the vote. Next in line was tied up between two options - "General PHP" and "PHP & Business/Ingegration" both with 15.3% of the votes.

Be sure anc check out (and vote on) their new poll for the week asking readers what they think is the biggest advantage of making to move to PHP5 for their scripts.

Sometimes, all someone needs is a path to follow when they're looking to help out a project. That's why Ligaya Turmelle has posted this great list of ways that you can help out PHP and its surrounding projects (like PEAR).

Main items on the list are:

• General ways to help
• Helping the QA team
• Helping with PEAR
• Helping with the Documentation
• Helping via Perl (extensions)
• Heliping with the PHP Core

Under each of these main points there are several sub-points for even more ideas of places to get involved. It's a great list, and you can get even more information on helping in an area by clicking on its title to be taken to the official page.

Sometimes, all someone needs is a path to follow when they're looking to help out a project. That's why Ligaya Turmelle has posted this great list of ways that you can help out PHP and its surrounding projects (like PEAR).

Main items on the list are:

• General ways to help
• Helping the QA team
• Helping with PEAR
• Helping with the Documentation
• Helping via Perl (extensions)
• Heliping with the PHP Core

Under each of these main points there are several sub-points for even more ideas of places to get involved. It's a great list, and you can get even more information on helping in an area by clicking on its title to be taken to the official page.

June has started, and with that comes some finishing touches for the alpha release of PHP-GTK 2.

• A few class implementations were completed
• PHP-GTK 2 was made PHP 5.2 ready
• A fix for the Win32 crash has been identified
• More documentation updates
• And more online resources for PHP-GTK users

Read on for more details about the PHP-GTK news from the first week of June 2006. It's browken down into three difference categories this time - Development, Documentation, and General changes - with a load of updates, espeically to the documentation.

June has started, and with that comes some finishing touches for the alpha release of PHP-GTK 2.

• A few class implementations were completed
• PHP-GTK 2 was made PHP 5.2 ready
• A fix for the Win32 crash has been identified
• More documentation updates
• And more online resources for PHP-GTK users

Read on for more details about the PHP-GTK news from the first week of June 2006. It's browken down into three difference categories this time - Development, Documentation, and General changes - with a load of updates, espeically to the documentation.