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There has been some recent activity on the PHP Developer mailing list about the addition of JSON into the PHP Core. After reading the thread, I did a little research on JavaScript Object Notation (JSON). Here is a great website to read more about it.
FireBug is a new tool that aids with debugging Javascript, DHTML, and Ajax. It is like a combination of the Javascript Console, DOM Inspector, and a command line Javascript interpreter.
Other fun features:
* XMLHttpRequest Spy – Ever wonder what all them newfangled Ajax websites are up to? Watch the requests fly by in the console!
* One web page, one console – Tired of slogging through a zillion errors in the JavaScript Console trying to find the one you want? The FireBug console is built into the bottom of the browser, and only shows you errors and log messages that came from the page you’re looking at.
* JavaScript Error Status Bar Indicator – It’s a sin that Firefox doesn’t include this by default, like IE does. When there is an error in the page, the status bar will let you know with a big red blob.
* Logging for web pages – Sick and tired of “alert debugging”? Jealous of all your C programmer buddies with their fancy printf? Now you can log text and objects to the FireBug console from any web page. See my website for more info on this.
If you have been lurking on the #uphpu irc channel then you have probably heard me talking about the eclipse IDE with others and especially the arch enemy of it, dataw0lf.
However, in the spirit of friendship I have create a special version of eclipse for linux gtk that has removed all the java libraries and have replaced them with Colorer, PyDev, Ruby-eclipse, and Perl EPIC. Basically, I stripped out all the excess and put in the killer stuff. I also added FTP and WebDav support, CVS support, and SFTP support. This IDE will allow you to manage multiple projects and in various languages, not to mention it is half the size it was. I will be writing up some articles on how to use UPHPU Eclipse for PHP and other development like Python and Ruby. If you have heard me talk about eclipse and want to give it a try you can download it here. I will be adding a windows and mac version to when time permits. If you run into any issues or would like too added some additional plugins like subversion or c/c++ then shoot me a message on the #uphpu channel.
To celebrate the huge success of Beginning PHP 5 and MySQL, we’re delighted to be able to offer you W. Jason Gilmore’s previous Apress title as an absolutely free ebook! — Apress.com
A Programmer’s Introduction to PHP 4.0
No matter what language you are familiar with, this book will benefit you. Beginning with a rapid introduction to PHP’s syntax and basic functionality, you will swiftly understand PHP. The book then steers you toward advanced issues, like PHP’s role in database manipulation, sessions, and user interactivity.
Author W.J. Gilmore also examines how PHP can work with XML, JavaScript, and the Component Object Model (COM). He loads the book with practical examples and several projects that can be immediately incorporated on any website. The invaluable A Programmer’s Introduction to PHP 4.0 shows you how to make the most of PHP’s powerful capabilities, regardless of your current scope of PHP knowledge.
– Apress.com
Check it out here.
“Spring into PHP5″ is a new book from Addison-Wesley’s series “Spring into…”. The book is written by Steven Hotzner; an author with many books in his line of credits. If you are new to PHP5 this might be a great book to check out.
I just got a copy of the new book from Steven Holzner entitled “Spring into PHP 5″. The “Spring into” is a new series of books coming from Addison-Wesley publication. You can check it out at Addison-Wesley for more information on additional titles in the series. First, let me give some back ground on Steven Holzner. I first heard about Steven in the Java programming world. With more than 88 books to his list of publications, he has extensive experience in teaching and software development.
Now lets get into the book. As with all my reviews the first thing i like to do is check out the table of contents for anything that catches my eye. Sure enough, there is a couple of chapters that really stood out; chapter 6 Creating Web Forms and Validation User Input and Chapter 7 Object Oriented Programming and File Handling. As I preceded to read through chapter 6 i noticed that the book has a very, and i mean, very simplistic approach. The book is written for new PHP users that want to get started with PHP5. However, as I read through the book I noticed that the book does not cover many of the new features that PHP5 has to offer. For example, the book does not really have any coverage of interfaces and the new XML features. The book does a great job in covering basic PHP functionality and only devotes chapter 7 to Object Oriented Programming.
Some of the good items to discuss about the book is that it is simple and provides simple examples for users just learning PHP. The author does not spend any time focusing on the theory behind PHP and web based programming. For me this is a negative aspect of the book, but can be a positive aspect for a user just wanting to get down to using PHP with no interest in the workings of PHP. The examples and very simple and the Steven does a great job explaining the examples in detail for the reader.
Overall, I feel “Spring into PHP5″ is a decent book for a new user just starting out with PHP5. However, with the lack of real PHP5 chapters and the weakness of chapter 7, I think that a new user can find a book that goes into great detail about PHP5 and the new object oriented engine that it contains. For a user that wants simple examples with a simple and easy to understand layout this book does the trick.
If you are at all interested in Linux, this is one book that you really must have in your library. It is a book that you atleast need to check out.
I recently had the opportunity to review a new book in the Bruce Perens’ Open Source Series entitled “Linux Quick Fix Notebook”by Peter Harrison. The book is definitely one to have in your library. The first thing I did when i received the book was open it up to the table of contents and searched out some advanced topics that I have been looking to read. Topics like wireless networks, iptables, and LVMs to name a few. I was impress to see those topics and more advanced topics like software raids, LDAP and Radius, and linux vpns. Harrison wrote the book to follow a simple pattern of providing real answers to questions ranging from the most basic to advanced.
One of the first sections of the book that I read was “Expanding Disk Capacity”. In searching the table of contents this was one section that really caught my eye. My reasoning for selecting this section is two fold: first, I wanted to see if the book could be used as a reference to various topics; and second, because I wanted to check out some of the advanced topics covered in the book. Peter Harrison does a fanatastic job of focusing on the topic at hand and providing simple and intellegient instruction to your questions. The flow of the book allows you to pick it up and start with a section and just move through it.
As I started reading the book, I noticed that the progression of the topics moved in an orderly fashion that a system administrator would follow. It allowed the basic administrator to start from the beginning and progress to an advanced level of configuration, security and optimization. One item that I did not really like is the references to RedHat as the linux distro. Yet, I can agree with Peter, that many users will start out with this distro or one similar. I think that the topics are great, and my only regret is that there were not more topics to read about.
The book in its entirety is definitely a must have for any system administrator or software developer. Mr. Harrison provides valuable information in sizable chunks for the reader to manage. My only real critique would be to have a different layout in each topic. For example, in chapter 7 Peter discusses “The Linux Boot Process”. He does a great job of explaining and outlining the process. Still, I think that perhaps having sub-sections in the topics would allow readers to glean additional information. Like have a security, advanced, and optimization sub-sections to each topic.
All in all, Harrison does an exceptional job in bring many great topics into one book. Harrison’s style allows the reader to move forward or back without loosing momentum in the book. The reader can get quick answers to their questions.
I reviewed Eclipse In Action to familiarize myself with the IDE Eclipse. My main focus while reading the book was to learn all I can about developing with Eclipse. I wanted to be able to utilize all the features that Eclipse has to offer, not only in terms of Java developer, but also as a web developer. However, I want to point out that this book is “A Guide for Java Developers”?. So the target audience is for a Java Developer.
The book starts out with a great introduction into Eclipse and the how the IDE comes together in the workbench. Then it moves right into the Java development with Eclipse. It wastes no time getting to the meat of development with Junit, Log4j, testing, debugging, and Ant integration. Not to mention a chapter on CVS integration. The book has everything that a developer needs during the development life cycle of their project. The authors do a great job in adding additional information on the features that Eclipse has to offer to help alleviate the remedial tasks during development. Many of these features can be used outside of Java development.
Part 2 of Eclipse In Action deals with extending Eclipse and creating Eclipse plugins (the foundation of Eclipse). These chapters give a great novice introduction into Eclipse plugin development; however, there seems to be lacking detail into SWT/JFace and advanced plugin development.
Overall Eclipse In Action provides an indepth look into the Eclipse IDE. I would recommend this book to anyone that want to use Eclipse as their IDE. I have been using Eclipse for over a year now and I use it for all languages I develop with, like Java and PHP. Though the book focuses on the Java Developer, this also lends it way into development with other languages.
As an XML developer I spend most of my time working with XML and technologies related to XML. I began reading “Learning XML” with the mindset of finding new and interesting topics. Erik Ray provided some great reading on such topics as Schema, RELAX NG, and Schematron.
I found the first few chapters (1-4) to be a great review, covering basics and key concepts of XML. Mr. Ray does a fantastic job at explaining and providing examples that illustrate basic and complex syntax of XML. He also lets the reader know if there are additional items to discuss later in future chapters. This allowed me to skip forward and review those sections.
Even though I have many years of experience with XML, I never found “Learning XML” dull or boring in the least regard. “Learning XML” continued to provide information that allowed me to read on with interest.
The author also takes the reader into other XML technologies like XPath, XSLT, and XSL-FO. There are many books out there that deal with each of these technologies individually, yet the author provides a strong introduction and foundation to these technologies.
Some of my favorite sections deal with DOM, SAX, pull parsing, DTDs, and Unicode of XML documents.
Even though this book provides tons of satisfying examples, I was really looking forward to at least one chapter on advanced topics or theory. However to my dismay there was not one. Overall, Erik Ray does a great job in presenting, explaining and demonstrating XML and XML technologies to his readers. I encourage anyone that is looking for a great book on XML to check out “Learning XML”.
To cut to the chase, I heartily recommend this book. Any serious web server admin should have a copy of this book — I’ve found it indispensable, and refer to it often. They’re not exaggerating when they call it “The Definitive Guide”
Billed as, “Vital information for Apache Programmers and administrators,” this book is definitely geared toward that audience — programmers and admins. That said, the first chapter, “Getting Started,” provides an excellent overview of basic web server concepts that most newbies could understand.
What I liked
I liked almost everything! I found the first half of the book (chapters 1-12) the most useful. These chapters covered just about everything you’d want to know about configuring and running apache. Beyond just the basics, the book covers in depth: virtual hosts, authentication, content description and modification, indexing, redirection, proxying, logging, security, and running a big web site. I came away with a much higher level of respect for Apache’s capabilities — I was really surprised how much I didn’t know about Apache, and how much this book could tell me.
Additionally, there was a very interesting section on writing modules for Apache which, though a little beyond my expertise, gave me a better understanding of Apache’s inner workings.
Disappointments
My biggest disappointment with the book was that it dealt so little with PHP, which only got 6 pages. I would have been less disappointed if they hadn’t 50-plus pages to CGI/Perl and 17 pages to Java. Additionally, their XML section dealt almost entirely with Perl and Java, ignoring PHP. Granted, this isn’t a PHP-specific book, but (considering I got the book via a PHP user group) I hoped for equal coverage.
If you use link and ever wondered (like I have) about how the boot process this is a great article: How Linux Boots.
