Thoughts On PECL Frameworks

In recent months, a number of new frameworks have cropped up for PHP as PECL extensions (Including YAF and PhalconPHP). They promise to provide huge performance gains and lower resource usage for PHP applications. On the surface, they appear to be incredible tools for improving development. But they aren't all they are cracked up to be. In fact, I would argue that they are actually not necessary at all.

Object Scoping: A Triste Against Service Containers

Yesterday, I got in an interesting conversation on twitter about object scopes and what constitutes a global scope. The discussion started around a piece of code that I stumbled upon from Fuel 2.0. I am a firm believer that service containers are not a form of Dependency Injection, and are only slightly better than global variables. That led me to make a few comments that elicited a reply from two Fuel developers. That led to a rather interesting debate that just couldn't fit into 140 characters... So I'm going to go into topics that are tightly related: variable scoping and service locators.

The Anatomy Of A Great Conference

I had the pleasure of attending the North East PHP conference this weekend. I've attended a lot of conferences over the years, but I found this one to be one of the most enjoyable ones that I've ever attended. On my drive home (4.5 hours in a car gives you a lot of time to think), I was thinking about what made it such an enjoyable time. Here's what I've come up with goes into making a good conference.

Don't Listen To Me!

Or anyone else for that matter. Lately, I've been getting a lot of feedback about my posts that I'm suggesting things that are going to get less experienced developers into a lot of trouble. Or that people are going to use my posts as justification for bad practices. Or that people are going to cause major issues by putting experimental concepts into production. My initial response is "That's their problem."

Thoughts On Space Shuttle Code Process

Today's post is in response to an article that I read yesterday entitled They Write The Right Stuff. It's a very interesting and insightful look into one of the most complex and critical pieces of software ever produced (also one of the most expensive). I think we can learn a lot from what they are doing, but I also think we should avoid copying what they are doing. The point that's missed is practicality.

Garbage In, Gold Out

Every developer who studies computer science (and most who haven't) has heard the phrase "Garbage In, Garbage Out" before. It's such a logical concept that it's almost beyond refuting. Almost. While the phrase still definitely holds true for some situations, it doesn't hold for most. How can such a logical and straight forward saying lead us down the wrong path?

Reinvent The Wheel!

"Don't Reinvent The Wheel" is a phrase that we hear used all the time in software development. Usually it's used in the context where a library exists to do what the user wants, but they are writing their own. While the sentiment is usually correct, I can't stand the implication of the phrase. Therefore, I can't stand it when people use that phrase without understanding what it really means. Let me explain:

N-Tier Architecture - An Introduction

If you've been following me for a while, you've likely heard me use the term "N-Tier Architecture" before. Today's question comes from Arno. He basically asked "What is this N-Tier Architecture thing you keep talking about?"... So, to answer his question, a N-Tier Architecture is one that uses more than one tier. Of course there's more to it than that...