Alex @ Net

@var variable type hint is very useful, but adding it a little bit complex: usually you need to type the class name or copy/paste it from somewhere:

/* @var $controller Zend_Controller_Front */

But with Eclipse PDT templates you can simplify this and add an autocomplete for variable name and class name:

Happy dreams of PHP developers come true. Yesterday I received a letter from Eclipse PDT bugzilla with notification that my proposition about autocomplete for properties that submitted more than a year ago is implemented in PDT 2.0 nightly builds.

mod_php or PHP via mod_fcgid? Apachelounge.com shows that PHP with FastCGI is in 1.5 times better then PHP as module.

Fri, Sat, Sun - Fast CGI; Mon, Tue, Wed, Thu - PHP module; Fri - Fast CGI again.

I've been asked on the forum about my preferences in frameworks and I wrote a few thoughts about it. In short:

• 80% of the code I have written do not operate with frameworks.
• Language constructions, right tools and good methodology are more important then frameworks.
• ZF style is more flexible and allows you to write faster code and its learning curve is not as high as it is for declarative frameworks (PRADO/ASP.NET).

I've just published an article about Zend Certification. As you may know, I've passed it a year ago and since then have about 5-7 email each month with questions about it. So I've summarized my answers in article.

If you are a ZCE and wrote some words about it, just drop me a mail or leave a comment and I will add the link to your post in the article. Thanks.

Zend Certification is an important step for a PHP developer. It is a very good chance to evaluate your skills, show your experience to your co-workers and potential customers. Certification benefits (briefly described at http://www.zend.com/en/services/certification/) keep up interest in everything about the certification: what it is, how to prepare for it, how to pass it, what happens after you pass it.

I wonder, is it a good idea to create a PHP implementation of the JSR 286 - Portlet 2.0 specification?

The questions I want to ask:
1. Do you know about portal/portlet technology?
2. Do you like it?
3. Is it a cool idea to create a PHP analog of javax.portlet?
4. Do you want to participate in such project?
5. Will you use it in your projects?

PHP is a good language, but there are always surprises. And today I've seen an interesting approach in Arnold Daniels's blog. He talks about temporary variables in PHP. This tip is useful to "lazy" developers who do not even think about variable names. They may prefer magic names like ${0} and 0 is good enough variable name, why not...

But I'm even more lazy then Arnold and sure that when there is no variable, then there is no problem. So here are a few tips that can make your code shorter and harder to read :-)

In his recent post Travis Swicegood is talking about the "Fluent API". This kind of API is very popular in scripting languages and I use it during my work with Zend Framework or jQuery projects. Another good example of such technique is Document Object Model API.

Stu's recent post Microsoft's First PHP Extension: SQL Server 2005 Support contains a few thoughts on why PHP requires improved driver for SQL Server 2005. I can add that a few years ago I had bad experience with MS SQL PHP extension. It was just impossible to use it in production environment.