If you're new to PHP and are still learning the ropes, one thing that could be confusing is how the language handles sessions and the data they contain. In this new tutorial from the TutsPlus.com site, they introduce you to the basics of using sessions and the variables they contain to get you up to speed.

Session handling is a key concept in PHP that enables user information to be persisted across all the pages of a website or app. In this post, you'll learn the basics of session handling in PHP.

We'll start with an explanation of how sessions work and how they are related to cookies. Then we'll look at a few code snippets that demonstrate how to work with sessions. You'll learn how to create and destroy sessions, and how to change session variables.

The post starts with a general overview of what a session is and how the information flows back and forth from the user to the server. To illustrate, they provide an example of a simple login process, complete with flow diagram. The tutorial then shows how to:

• start a new session
• get the session ID
• automatically start a session
• destroying a session

It then covers the use of session variables: setting them, removing them and altering their contents.

On 7PHP.com there's a new interview posted with a PHP community member, Craig Willis, about starting a user group.

This is the #1st set of How To Start A PHP user group in an attempt to help PHP guys all around the world to spring out a local PHP user group if they do not have one nearby. So before you embark on this journey, you need to know what you have to expect, how to prepare yourself, the pitfalls, the to-do lists, the workload behind, the commitment behind and above all the gratification this can bring to your PHP life.

Craig, the founder of the Leeds PHP User Group. He talks about starting the user group, some of the challenges involved and a few tips to help you get started. He also shares a few helpful hints about keeping the group going and how to plan/find speakers.

DevShed has posted their next-to-last article in their look at using XDebug in your applications - part six, a look at doing some benchmarking with functions the extension provides.

You'll be pleased to hear that the Xdebug extension comes equipped with additional functions that allow us to perform other debugging tasks, such as benchmarking PHP applications and checking in what order certain functions were called by the PHP engine. Therefore, in this sixth chapter of the series I’ll be discussing in depth how to take advantage of the benchmarking abilities offered by the Xdebug library, which rely heavily on its "xdebug_time_index()" function.

Their benchamrking example uses the xdebug_time_index function to compare the start and end times of a script. Dropping it into a method in a class makes it even easier - they call the getTime method in their Timer class to grab the latest value.

The Zend Developer Zone has pointed out a new course that's offered by Zend to help experienced programmers further their PHP education - Zend Quick Start: PHP for Experienced Programmers.

This course covers many of the same topics as both the PHP I: Foundations and PHP II: Higher Structures classes but at an accelerated rate with special emphasis on the differences between PHP and other commonly used languages.

The next session of the course starts on April 29th and will last through May 16th. There will be nine sessions during that time for two hours at a time. You can get full details, including how to reserve your spot, on the course's page on the Zend website.

Derick Rethans has posted a quick tip to his blog today:

A friend asked "How do I calculate start (monday) and end (sunday) dates from a given week number for a specified year?" Instead of having to come up with your own algorithm you can simply do the following in PHP 5.1 and higher.

The (technically) three-line code uses ISO format for the date to tell you which day is the starting day of that week and which is the end. He only explains this format just a bit, so if you want more information, check out the strtotime function page.

Derick Rethans has posted a quick tip to his blog today:

A friend asked "How do I calculate start (monday) and end (sunday) dates from a given week number for a specified year?" Instead of having to come up with your own algorithm you can simply do the following in PHP 5.1 and higher.

The (technically) three-line code uses ISO format for the date to tell you which day is the starting day of that week and which is the end. He only explains this format just a bit, so if you want more information, check out the strtotime function page.

With just a quick handy code snippet posted on his blog today, Derick Rethans shares these two lines to help grab the start and end dates of a week in question.

A friend asked "How do I calculate start (monday) and end (sunday) dates from a given week number for a specified year?" Instead of having to come up with your own algorithm you can simply do the following in PHP 5.1 and higher.

The code makes use of the ISO8601 datetime functionality to grab the correct value from a strtotime command. Derick also briefly explains how it all works.

With just a quick handy code snippet posted on his blog today, Derick Rethans shares these two lines to help grab the start and end dates of a week in question.

A friend asked "How do I calculate start (monday) and end (sunday) dates from a given week number for a specified year?" Instead of having to come up with your own algorithm you can simply do the following in PHP 5.1 and higher.

The code makes use of the ISO8601 datetime functionality to grab the correct value from a strtotime command. Derick also briefly explains how it all works.

On the CakeBaker blog, there's a note about a new job board they've started up specifically aimed at helping companies/other developers look for CakePHP experienced coders.

This week there was a discussion in the IRC channel about a missing job board for cake related jobs. Voila, here it is: findABaker. Feedback is as always welcome.

There's no postings on it yet, but I could definitely see this resource growing right along side the growth of CakePHP. If you'd like to make a posting, you can do so for free up until September 15th - then it's only $20 USD to post.

On the CakeBaker blog, there's a note about a new job board they've started up specifically aimed at helping companies/other developers look for CakePHP experienced coders.

This week there was a discussion in the IRC channel about a missing job board for cake related jobs. Voila, here it is: findABaker. Feedback is as always welcome.

There's no postings on it yet, but I could definitely see this resource growing right along side the growth of CakePHP. If you'd like to make a posting, you can do so for free up until September 15th - then it's only $20 USD to post.