"PHP as a language isn't isolated and people are going to be building SOA types of applications using XML and SOAP," said Rod Smith, vice president of emerging technology at IBM.
"So the idea is to have an Eclipse plug-in here to leverage content [and] leverage the assets that have a Web services interface on it" and link to Java back-end systems, Smith said.
Both the Eclipse plug-in and development framework will be offered free.
In addition, Zend will publish a PHP "framework," or set of reusable PHP codes, also under an open-source license. The framework will allow third-party software companies to create add-ins that work in conjunction with Zend's flagship product, Zend Studio.
Is Zend PHP Framework an add-in API for Zend Studio? You too can make a "Refactor single quotes to double quotes" plugin.
Perhaps some esoteric Java integration capability? Good News Everyone! Now your sloppy php web front end can grovel even lower before our mighty and wise java back end. I, for one, welcome our new Java overlords. I'd like to remind them that as guy with a blog I could be helpful in rounding up others to toil in their underground SOAP caves. **
Don't flush yet, Davey.
Why build when you can acquire? Maybe ZPF is PRADO with IDE support? Prado 3 is due "later this year." But then, so is eZ publish Enterprise Components.
A Struts clone? Thats so 2004.
A Rails clone? It would be pretty obvious who the competition is then.
Is Zend PHP Framework a component model? The best thing that could happen to PHP would be a standard component model. I'm just not sure that PHP 5.1 has all the language pieces in place for that yet. Unless they go with the java style accessor methods - ok if you are the vendor of a tool that auto-generates accessor method code, big suck if you have even a small awareness of Ruby.
I know nothing, but this speculation is almost as much fun as Crazy Apple Rumors.
]]>I’m sure that the timing of these rumours, with the Zend/PHP Conference 2005 just getting underway in San Francisco, is more than coincidental. An official announcement is doubtless just around the corner.
From what I can tell, we’re looking at two related projects, here:
- a new PHP IDE built on Eclipse, the most popular development environment for Java developers
- a new framework that standardizes the architecture of enterprise-class PHP Web applications
Presumably, the IDE will be built with the framework in mind, providing specialized tools to work within that prescribed architecture (in much the same way as Visual Studio does for Microsoft’s .NET).
Is this the shot in the arm that PHP needs to further penetrate the enterprise space? Or is PHP simply “me too”-ing Java when it should really be capitalizing on its own strengths with a unique direction?
All I know is that if we end up with a rich framework that blindly enforces MVC architecture and jumps through all sorts of hoops to provide conveniences like persistent application state and background processes, developers might as well just switch to Java today and avoid the wait. If, on the other hand, Zend and IBM can generate something unique—a standard Web application structure that avoids reinventing the wheel while taking full advantage of PHP’s nimble, stateless and dynamic nature—then this could be bigger than the introduction of object orientation in PHP 4.0.
Don’t get me wrong, I think object oriented programming and proven design patterns like MVC are great, and there are certainly lessons that PHP can take from these to make large-scale development more practical. But it’s vitally important that PHP not blindly follow the platforms that came before it. There’s a reason PHP today is far more appropriate than Java for a great many projects, and to risk losing that uniqueness is to risk the future of PHP itself.
]]>It seems there is some confusion about whether or not Zend (etc.) are trying to compete on both an API Framework or an IDE/Workflow framework. Both of which are offered by the .NET/Visual Studio solution.
I will admit, I have mixed feelings about this move either way. First and foremost, I think it is obvious, that any pairing with Eclipse will ultimately mean that there is going to be an IDE switcheroo in the Zend camp. Now, whether this means they will provide some sort of Eclipse based solution similar to the Zend Studio Personal offering (download the Pro trial, let it run out) which will either free; or if they are going to create an Eclipse based Zend Studio Pro equivelent I don't know. Perhaps they are even planning to keep Zend Studio Pro *and* release an Eclipse/Zend Studio pro solution for those who are already using Eclipse for other development and do not with to use multiple editors.
I also believe, that whatever Zend does create, will be a commercial product (or at the very least, have a very much advanced commercial variant, similar to the current ZDE situation), for two reasons: 1) Upholding current contracts with ZDE license holders 2) If its integrated with Zend Platform... well, enough said 
In the last year, I've written at least a couple of posts mentioning Eclipse, mostly commenting on my dislike. However, I have tried it again since then, and its not all *that* terrible. TruStudio certainly makes it tolerable. Perhaps Zend can do a better job?
Regardless, Zend Studio, version 5 of which is due to be released soon (I'm sure, since Beta 2 is now out) has seen it take leaps and bounds (such as SVN support, code folding, etc) seems to be a shame to waste such a good product, so again, I wonder exactly what Zend has planned with Eclipse. I imagine, any thing with Eclipse unless they have already been working on it for some time, will be some ways off... perhaps it will be ready for a timely Zend Studio 6 release? Who knows.
The other part of this, is the API Framework. I mostly have mixed feelings about this because I see A lot of hard work going down the commode. But, on the other hand, it will be nice to have some sort of standard, and I believe on Zend can truly bring this to the community. Look at what Ruby on Rails did for peoples awareness of Ruby. I'm sure, that whatever Zend brings to the table, if anything, on this front, there will be plenty of people (myself included) willing to twist it in ways they never dreamed of to create an even better solution for the community.
Furthermore, how will it include PEAR and PECL? Perhaps it will just be a Zend managed PEAR Channel? Now that, would be cool 
I think that the main thing Zend needs to remember in this process, is the community. Don't keep the process hidden, include the community when you can and sift out the gems from the chaffe of all the amazing brains that are floating around in it to include in a community solution.
- Davey
]]>If you have some spare time in the next week or two, please take a moment to try out 5.1.0 and see if it works with your code/programs. Majority of the test suit passes with this releases, so the only remaining the issue are those waiting to be discovered through "real-life" testing.
]]>
"Every key of the Optimus keyboard is a stand-alone display showing exactly what it is controlling at this very moment."
Simply check out the Game configuration at the bottom of the page. ]]>
I'm looking forward to the conference; meeting the usual crowd is always good... and this time around we're "business focused", which should put a bit of a different spin on things... hopefully for the better :-)
]]>
array (
0 =>
class ezcTranslationData {
public $original = 'Node ID:';
public $translation = 'Knoop ID:';
public $comment = false;
public $status = 0;
},
);
This snippet above can of course not be parsed as valid PHP code. After thinking about it for a bit, I came up with a solution. Instead of the code above, we now generate:
array (
0 =>
ezcTranslationData::__set_state(array(
'original' => 'Node ID:',
'translation' => 'Knoop ID:',
'comment' => false,
'status' => 0,
)),
);
The __set_state() method is then required to be implemented by the class for this to work, but that is better than generating code which can never be parsed. The name comes from the Memento pattern. As this fixes a bug this made it into PHP 5.1.0 and PHP 6.0.0.
]]>It was originally written against an earlier of incarnation of PDO, so some parts may not be 100% correct. If you're thinking of adding support for other databases to PHP, then you should read the howto and give it a whirl. If you find an inaccuracy, drop a line to [email protected] and we'll set you straight and fix the docs.
]]>I've been playing around with DocBook this weekend, converting our product manual to html and PDF. I'm using the docbook xsl stylesheets to convert to html and XSL-FO, and then using an FO processor to convert from XSL-FO to PDF.
Apache FOP is a free FO processor, but the version that gentoo emerged for me borks on our manual; it either stops generating pages after page 36, or spins in an infinite loop.
I also tried XMLroff, which is the only C based FO processor I've found (based on libxml2). It segfaults straight away for me, so it's not immediately useful; maybe a future release will work.
I've downloaded trial versions of two commercial offerings; RenderX XEP and Lunasil XINC.
RenderX seems to work ok, but blanks out every odd page after page 11, so it's a little bit hard to figure out if we want to pay $300 for the full version. It does look promising though, and the price doesn't sound that bad.
]]>