The May issue of php|architect has been published and is available for download, free of charge, directly from our website to all registered users (not a registered user? You can register directly from the magazine page above).

This month’s issue is dedicated to PHP on Windows—a topic on which it is often difficult to find good information. Additionally, we have great pieces from our columnists on topics ranging from security to quality assurance and a great interview with Zend Framework lead Matthew Weier O’Phinney.

Contents

Here’s a quick overview of this month’s contents:

• Installing PHP on Windows by Hank Janssen and Pierre A. Joye
  The Windows version of PHP has always lagged behind the other platforms in terms of features and stability, however, the situation has improved drastically during the last six or so months, with PHP on Windows reaching feature parity with other platforms. Developing with PHP on Windows is now easier than ever and, in some cases, has resulted in important PHP innovations. Learn how you can set up a development environment to compile and develop PHP on Windows within minutes.
   
• Introduction to Silverlight and the HTML DOM by Joe Stagner
  This article is intended to serve as an introduction to Microsoft Silverlight for developers that are probably not .NET developers. Learn how to get started integrating your PHP apps with the Silverlight features.  
   
• Configure and Optimize PHP on Windows by Ruslan Yakushev and Hank Janssen
  It has been pretty hard in the past to figure out how to install and configure PHP on Windows. Additionally, when you did get it installed, finding information on how to optimize PHP was even harder to find. Due to the recent work done by the PHP Community and Microsoft, doing exactly that is now easier than ever.  
   
• Pre-Launch Checklist by Eric David Benari
  Shortly after most new sites are launched, the creators discover that some necessary elements have been forgotten. Pilots employ a pre-flight checklist to avoid problems while airborne, so it is only natural that web sites should have a pre-launch checklist to avoid problems once users begin visiting the site.  
   
• Getting Started with the SQL Server Driver for PHPby David Sceppa
  Microsoft recently produced a PHP extension to communicate with SQL Server 2005 and 2008 databases, the SQL Server Driver for PHP. This article will cover the basic workings of this new extension, demonstrating how to connect to SQL Server, execute queries, retrieve results and manage transactions.  
   
• Security Roundup: The Cost of Security by Arne Blankerts
  Take a look at the costs of securing your code up front or repairing it later. What are the actual costs, and what are the questions you need to ask yourself when deciding?  
   
• PEAR Corner: Quality Assurance Teams—Truth or Myth? by Helgi Þormar Þorbjörnsson
  In the last couple of years, there seems to be a growing trend in the PHP world where application and library developers put out claims that their piece of code is high-quality and thoroughly tested. Indeed, in many cases, this is more than true, but how can you really guarantee quality like this?  
   
• Collecting Garbage: Cleaning Up by Derick Rethans
  In this second part of the three-part column on the new garbage collecting mechanism in PHP 5.3, we’ll dive into a solution to the problem with circular references.  
   
• Enterprise PHP: The Rise of Frameworks
  by Ivo Jansch Frameworks are more popular than ever, and
  seem to have replaced the CMS as the implementation of choice for websites. In this article, Ivo interviews Matthew Weier O’Phinney, software architect for Zend Framework, on several topics, such as the reasons why frameworks are so popular.  
   
• exit(0): Thinking in Circles by Marco Tabini
  When the budget is tight and we have to develop for multiple
  browsers and platforms, creativity loses out.

CodeWorks will officially kick off in San Francisco on September 22–23, then move through the United States over a period of two weeks, visiting these cities:

• San Francisco, CA: Sep 22–23
• Los Angeles, CA: Sep 24–25
• Dallas, TX: Sep 26–27
• Atlanta, GA: Sep 28–29
• Miami, FL: Sep 30–Oct 1
• Washington, DC / Baltimore, MD: Oct 2–3
• New York City, NY: Oct 4–5

Event Makeup

Each stop in the CodeWorks tour will feature one day of in-depth tutorials,
plus one day of main conference.

The tutorial daywill include a selection of three- and six-hour, intensive seminars
focused on particular topics like security, agile development, and so on—like a very affordable training course presented by some of the best speakers in the industry. The seminars will be arranged along three separate tracks, with the possibility for each attendee to switch between tracks at any moment.

The main conference day will feature over eighteen talks, again organized over
three separate tracks, on a wide range of topics related to PHP and its sister technologies. The focus of the conference is highly technical, but with an eye towards the larger issue of technological strategy for IT professionals.

We are currently hard at work preparing the schedule for each event, and plan on publishing on June 29th.

Pricing & Discounts

By taking our conferences on the road, we can, for the first time, bring the unique experience of a php|architect event directly
to our attendees at an unbeatable price—attendance fees start at just $99 for the main conference day! In today’s
tough economy, this is a great way to maximize your learning and networking potential while minimizing the impact on your budget and
travel expenses.

What’s more, we have instituted a very generous discount program designed to be as wide-reaching into the community as possible—if you belong to one of several categories, you also qualify for one of our discounts. If you don’t… all you have to do is join one of the main community user groups—PHP, MySQL, Flex, they all count: our goal is to help the community grow, and we think that this is a great way to give everyone an incentive to contribute.

Sign Up Today!

Hurry! The current pricing for CodeWorks won’t last long—secure your seat today (and, while you’re at it, why not secure some for your colleagues, too?) through our online signup system. Each event is limited to 300 seats—they won’t
last long, so get’em while you can!

Edit 2009/05/30: fixed some typos and headings.