Florian Engelhardt
Florian is a father of five, developer, architect, tech lead, geek and still sometimes finds time to contribute to open source. He started writing software with PHP in September 2000 and will try to convince you to use vim.
twitter: @realFlowControl
Articles
Observability Foundations: Flame On! Profiling in PHP Application
By Florian Engelhardt
When we began this series, we looked at metrics to see performance trends, then turned to logs for granular events, and finally to traces for understanding how requests flow through services – Yet even with all three, there are times when one question remains unanswered -What is my code actually doing when the request is just slow? by Florian Engelhardt
Published in Meet the new Executive Director of The PHP Foundation, April 2026
Observability Foundations: Following the Flow with Tracing in PHP Applications
By Florian Engelhardt
In the previous installments of this series, we explored how metrics offer a high-level view of performance trends and how logs provide granular insights into application events. But there are still a couple of key questions left unanswered: *How does a request travel through our system—from the moment it enters, until the moment it leaves? And where along the way do things go wrong? by Florian Engelhardt
Published in Mmmmmm, PIE, August 2025
Observability Foundations: Why Logs Matter for PHP Applications
By Florian Engelhardt
This logging-focused article is the second part in our series on observability. Previously, we explored how metrics enable real-time visibility into an application’s performance. Now, we turn to logs to illuminate what happens under the hood—from configuration warnings to new user signups. by Florian Engelhardt
Published in Happy Birthday, PHP, June 2025
Observability Foundations
By Florian Engelhardt
Where do you start troubleshooting if a PHP application slows down or crashes? Logs might give you clues after the fact, and traces can pinpoint the bottlenecks, but before anything else, you need a real-time view of what is happening. This is where metrics come in. by Florian Engelhardt
Published in Transforming PHP, March 2025
Concurrency in PHP: What are my options?
By Florian Engelhardt
In computer science, concurrency is the ability of different parts or units of a program, algorithm, or problem to be executed out of order or in partial order, without affecting the outcome. – Wikipedia by Florian Engelhardt
Published in The Symfony of PHP, October 2024
Growing the PHP Core – One Test at a Time
By Florian Engelhardt
In September 2000, I started my vocational training at an internet agency with two teams: one doing JavaServer Pages and one doing PHP. I was assigned to the PHP team, and when presented with the language, I immediately knew that no one would ever use it. I was wrong. Today, my entire career is built on PHP. It’s time to give back to the community by writing tests for the PHP core itself!
Published in Testing The Core, April 2022
