Sometimes it's just fun to talk about all of the odd things we've done with PHP in the past. In this thread on /r/php on Reddit, developers have shared some of the "weirdest programs" they've created with the language. Here's just a sampling:

• a script which automatically wish for friend's birthday on midnight in facebook using Graph API
• a page counter
• a video watermarking and streaming tool
• a counter-bot script for preventing bot spam accounts in a game
• generate Flash SWF files
• a pulling an image from a webcam for a "real-time" Facebook cover photo
• solving quadratic equations for homework
• a "cat fax" service
• a Quake game browser

There's many, many, many more in the full post and it's interesting to see what all other developers have done. Head on over and share your weirdest PHP scripts too!

On the Exakat blog there's a new post sharing some of the weird operators in PHP that you may have not known existed. These are ones outside of the normal = or . that can really do some odd things.

If you read the PHP documentation, you will learn about a ton of operators. If you haven’t learnt about PHP operators, go do that first, we’ll wait for you.

Operators are usually made up with strange symbols, like !, -, =>, <=>, ^ or ~. Really, some are plain readable like and, while some are merely an missed attempt at being readable, and actually hide a double personnality, like xor.

You probably think you know PHP’s documentation in and out, but there is always more to learn. So I dove deep into the core of PHP code, and looked some special PHP operators that are lesser known, but very useful in your daily coding.

There's ten of the odd operators on their list including:

• the "b" operator for strings
• the "left object" operator
• constant names with * and %

Check out the full post for the details (and code examples) on each of these and more.

On PHPMaster.com today there's a new post that takes a different approach to PHP development than some of their articles in the past. It comes at it from the project management side of things, talking more about how to run the project and less about the technology it involves.

Whether we like it or not, unless we are doing a hobby project just for our own amusement, even the most technical among us are really just project managers who can code. And, as a project manager, we can experience the heartbreak of project failure. [...] So what can you do as a technical project manager to minimize your chances of adding “leader of a failed project” to your resume? The answer is: pretty much what non-technical project leaders do.

He touches on a few key points that are important to any technology project, not just PHP ones - managing the expectations of the team and the business, using iterative processes and development and avoiding scope creep. He also drops in a bit about watching out for "weird stuff" that might be new or different to your group and their technology choices.

For your consideration today, Philip Olson has worked up a listing of twenty (humorous) possible reasons that the names of the PHP functions are weird.

Here are 20 possible reasons why PHP functions lack consistent names and parameters. Learning the definition for every PHP function is truly an amazing feat and I doubt this has been attempted or accomplished by anyone. At least, by any sane human. And references are named references because they are designed to be referenced, right?

Items on the list include:

• PHP likes BC
• PHP says all your namespace are belong to us
• PHP function naming algorithm still remains a secret and cannot be cracked
• PHP isn't designed to win a beauty contest

For your consideration today, Philip Olson has worked up a listing of twenty (humorous) possible reasons that the names of the PHP functions are weird.

Here are 20 possible reasons why PHP functions lack consistent names and parameters. Learning the definition for every PHP function is truly an amazing feat and I doubt this has been attempted or accomplished by anyone. At least, by any sane human. And references are named references because they are designed to be referenced, right?

Items on the list include:

• PHP likes BC
• PHP says all your namespace are belong to us
• PHP function naming algorithm still remains a secret and cannot be cracked
• PHP isn't designed to win a beauty contest

Mike Wallner is sharing a quick note in this new blog post about some "weirdance" he noticed while working with libcurl and cookies.

He's made these adjustments in the CVS for the library, and mentions an implementation of the cookiestore option with these new changes as well.

Mike Wallner is sharing a quick note in this new blog post about some "weirdance" he noticed while working with libcurl and cookies.

He's made these adjustments in the CVS for the library, and mentions an implementation of the cookiestore option with these new changes as well.