In some of his research into PHP and Windows recently, Cal Evans has come across two surprising things about the (usually dismissed) combination of the two:

• It actually runs well if setup properly

  I don't have a spare computer so I'm not going to discuss performance or show benchmarks. I am talking about ease of use in getting things setup. [...] No, I'm not nearly ready to give up my Linux servers in production and despite Sam Ramji's recent pleas to their open source vendors not to compete on price but compete on value, I can still fail fast and cheap using open source software and operating systems.

• A lot of open source developers just don't trust Microsoft, just because.

  I am, however, willing to give them the benefit of the doubt. I am part of the slim majority on the above poll who thinks they are sincere. The reason I am willing to give them the benefit of the doubt is not because I believe that the core of Microsoft has changed in any way [...] but because I believe that inside of Microsoft, there are pockets of brilliance.

Check out more of Cal's thoughts on the matter and the results of his "unscientific" polls he mentions in the rest of the post.

With so many talking about fluent interfaces today, Andi Gutmans has tossed his hat into the ring with this new blog post with some of his thoughts.

I'd like to add to Paul's and Mike's posts regarding fluent interfaces.

I very much agree with them that this kind of method chaining allows to create very readable and intuitive interfaces. The million dollar question is when to actually use this kind of programming style.

Of course there are no definitive answers but I suggest to consider the following points: Use your intuition, If you don't have all of the data - reconsider using them, It really has to read well in your language (e.g. English), preferably as a complete sentence, and make sure that the base error handling it forces you to use is enough for your purposes.

And, of course, he's open to suggestions/comments on the subject, as well as any proposals for guidelines that might need to be set out there...

With so many talking about fluent interfaces today, Andi Gutmans has tossed his hat into the ring with this new blog post with some of his thoughts.

I'd like to add to Paul's and Mike's posts regarding fluent interfaces.

I very much agree with them that this kind of method chaining allows to create very readable and intuitive interfaces. The million dollar question is when to actually use this kind of programming style.

Of course there are no definitive answers but I suggest to consider the following points: Use your intuition, If you don't have all of the data - reconsider using them, It really has to read well in your language (e.g. English), preferably as a complete sentence, and make sure that the base error handling it forces you to use is enough for your purposes.

And, of course, he's open to suggestions/comments on the subject, as well as any proposals for guidelines that might need to be set out there...