Getting off the island in 2013
And so 2012 draws to a close. The world didn't end, to the disappointment of many. In some ways it was an eventful year, in others rather ho-hum follow-ups to the excitement of 2011.In the Drupal...
View ArticleOn empty return values
Earlier today, I posted a brief tweet (isn't that redundant?) about return values in PHP (or really, any language). Originally it was about return values from functions (such an exciting topic, I...
View ArticleThe Drupal 8 Track in Portland
You can either get on the Drupal 8 bus now, or get run over by it later.It's true. Drupal 8 is coming, and it will be big. Not just lines of code (that too), but big in the sense that Drupal 8 changes...
View ArticleAphorisms of fall conferences
Well, I've gone and done it. I've managed to setup my most intense conference schedule to date. This fall I will be appearing at no less than five conferences, speaking at least four of them.If you're...
View ArticleDropping forward
A little over a month ago, a few Drupal developers announced something new: A fork of Drupal called Backdrop. There's been quite a bit of talk about it, of course. While I don't plan to be using it...
View ArticleA Tale of Two PHP Devs
Recently I had an email conversation with someone about PHP, and how to market a new product to PHP developers, specifically through getting major PHP projects to adopt it. The details of that...
View ArticleBeyond Abstract classes
Recently, Anthony Ferrara has been posting a periodic "Beyond" series about software design philosophy. Some in particular have hinted at concepts I've been pondering as well. With his blessing,...
View ArticleThe Functional PHP tour
Ever heard of functional programming? Not procedural programming, but actual functional programming. Probably, as some fancy academic thing that no one really uses, right?Did you know you can do it in...
View ArticleThe Crafting Code Tour
Over the last few years, one of my foci has been bringing together the PHP community and taking the time to celebrate the PHP Renaissance. That effort has taken me all around the world, from Paris to...
View ArticleAn open letter to conference organizers
Let's be honest, I spend a lot of time at conferences. Over the past 2 years or so I've averaged more than one speaking engagement at a conference per month, including a half-dozen keynotes. I've also...
View ArticleOn Drupal's Leadership
My DrupalCon Amsterdam Core Conversation on Managing Complexity has generated quite a bit of follow-up discussion. That's good; it's a conversation we as a community really need to be having.There are...
View Article2014: A Year of Travel
As 2014 draws to a close, I look back at the year and realize... holy crap I traveled a lot! I hadn't actually done a fully tally yet, but here's the full rundown:Sunshine PHP - Miami, FL -...
View ArticleBuilding Bridges: 2015 Edition
As most who have met me know, building collaborative communities is a minor passion of mine. 2 years ago, I called on the Drupal community to Get off the Island and connect with other communities.That...
View ArticleClass name constants in PHP 5.4
One of the nice new features of PHP 5.5 is automatic class name constants. That is, in PHP 5.5 you can do this:<?phpnamespace Something\Obscenely\Long\Hard\To\Type;class MyClass {}echo...
View ArticleThe next era of PHP
2015 is turning into a watershed year for PHP. Many projects either have or will release new major versions, including Zend Framework, Symfony, Laravel, Guzzle, Drupal, Slim, and many others. And of...
View ArticleJust how insular is the PHP community?
Periodically, there is a complaint that PHP conferences are just "the same old faces". That the PHP community is insular and is just a good ol' boys club, elitist, and so forth.It's not the first...
View ArticleVisiting other islands this fall
In case you hadn't heard yet, Drupal 8 RC 1 is out. And there has been much rejoicing! I'm going to save my own lengthy celebration-and-thank-you post for the 8.0.0 release, so for now I will just...
View ArticleWhy I speak
A few weeks ago I gave a keynote presentation at PNW PHP in Seattle. It was the second time I'd given that particular talk, Eating ElePHPants, a quasi-history and lessons-learned of the process of...
View ArticleDrupal 8: Happy, but not satisfied
Two weeks ago (hey, I've been busy and trying to sleep for once), after 1716 days of work by more than 3312 people the Drupal community finally released Drupal 8, the latest release of the best...
View ArticleAnyone can code
One of Pixar's best movies is the 2007 "Ratatouille", the story of a rat named Remy who teams up with an unskilled nobody human to become a gourmet chef. Toward the climax of the film (spoiler alert!),...
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