Basic PHP Programming

Keeping it Clean

Bart — Tue, 16 Aug 2011 12:39:45 +0000

Many experts say it again and again, to keep your pages consistent so your users do get the feel of professionalism and hard work that was placed into making your page. With the web and design becoming easier and easier it tends to slip the people making them that consistency is one of the factors that makes a web page great and one that is sure to keep users coming back.

Inconsistent design makes pages look gaudy and sways possible re-visits from happening. With the incursion of social media and other web components such as widgets that clutter up the place it makes for one messy page indeed. Keep it clean and organized, besides you end up having to weave through the clutter in the event of problems as you try to fix them.

Taming Widgets

Bart — Mon, 16 May 2011 12:34:19 +0000

Widgets are a good way of getting a page to earn a buck whenever people click on them but with thousands of them around, throwing a couple of hundred on your sidebars will make for a very slow page. Widgets as designed are not supposed to take up too much processing speed out of a page but like all the elements of a page, too much of a good thing can be bad for your health, your page’s health that is.

Keep things clean and neat and you could do that with proper cycling of widgets should you need to place a lot of them on your page. Remember, a page that’s well thought of and laid out is better than a cluttered one.

SQL Injections

Bart — Wed, 30 Mar 2011 20:45:08 +0000

A SQL injection is a form of security vulnerability that will let a hacker get into the database through the use of vulnerability that he finds in your code. There are many PHP programs that employ MySQL databases as a part of the whole program. By knowing what things can bring a level of vulnerability in your program you can make the proper plans on what to avoid and how to make the whole code more secure.
There is a useful SQL injection cheat sheet available online that contains a section where the vulnerabilities of the PHP and MySQL are listed. You can use this cheat sheet to see if you’re breaking anything, which will help in creating a more secure code.

Need Development Help?

Bart — Sun, 16 Jan 2011 10:54:34 +0000

Then you could try Hyperpolyglot.org, a place where most development pages are represented side by side giving you an idea of how they work. One of the most common problems with web development is that some pages are developed using different languages. The site caters to developers who need information on how to best get all these development platforms to work together with samples and a forum where you could send in questions and get answers from developers like yourself.
Opens as a reference page that more or less presents most development languages and their kin. Describing similarities as well as differences making for one brief and concise development reference page.

PHP & MySQL for Dummies

Bart — Fri, 10 Dec 2010 05:52:17 +0000

Research and Markets, in Ireland has recently stated that it would be launching its latest offering of desk references. The “PHP & MySQL Web Development All-in-One Desk Reference for Dummies” can be considered a valuable part of resources for webmasters and programmers who wish to learn more about the two popular open-source databases-PHP and MySQL. The reference is said to be composed of six mini books and will feature easy and understandable tutorials for beginners – which would endear the collection to well, PHP and mySQL dummies!

SOURCE: Businesswire

Is PHP a Good Choice for a Freelance Programmer?

Bart — Thu, 18 Nov 2010 16:24:15 +0000

Freelance programming is becoming more and more popular, and many people are trying to find the language that suits them best in order to get into the market as soon as possible. PHP is easily one of the most popular languages in that department, and the number of people writing PHP programs as freelancers can be quite inspiring. However, if you’ve got no experience in it, can it make the right choice for your freelance ventures?

The truth is, PHP is a double-edged knife when it comes to newcomers, though its positives tend to outweigh the negatives. It’s easy to get into and learn the basics, but also leaves a lot to be explored and perfected, creating plenty of opportunities for building your skills. However, perhaps the most important thing to consider about PHP is the database interaction – as a freelance programmer offering PHP services, you should be well-acquainted with at least one major database suite, and this creates additional things to learn and master, which can easily make the whole job more daunting.

Then there’s the whole issue with security – something which really deserves its own note, but it’s sufficient to say that any freelance PHP programmer worth their salt must have top notch security in their websites, and it’s one of the points where newbies fail most often. Security in Internet applications is a whole philosophy in itself, and you’ll have to dedicate a lot of time to learning that as well – so take this into consideration too.

PHP goes mainstream

Bart — Wed, 10 Nov 2010 11:00:28 +0000

Very pop, eh? Granted that one of the leading software giants, Microsoft is anti-open source in principle and endorses .NET Framework, PHP is actually kicking language programming ass!

According to the Tiobe Community Programming Index, PHP has steadily moved from fifth to fourth in terms of skills availability over the past year. It has (sneakily?) surpassed C++ and it will soon overtake Visual Basic. Wow!

Anyway, the recently IBM-partnered Zend Technologies is putting up enterprise-strength PHP on its iSeries platform. It has even cajoled Microsoft to grudgingly accept PHP as a foe. They�re positive that in the near future, PP will catch up on Apache, as it is on IIS and Windows.

Source: Computer Weekly

PHP Optimized For Windows Server 2008

Bart — Sun, 10 Oct 2010 05:47:35 +0000

W00t! PHP specialists from Zend Technologies confirm that the Zend Core, which is a commercially supported form of PHP, can now run on Windows Server 2008. According to the statement, Zend Core has recently been certified as such by by Microsoft (NSDQ: MSFT).

Good news is that PHP by Zend is able to support CardSpace. This also means that the Mambo Web site content management system and even the WordPress blog publishing system can now be hosted by Windows and Linux servers.

SOURCE: Businesswire

Why is PHP popular?

Bart — Fri, 10 Sep 2010 03:45:32 +0000

Let’s review why this free programming script is very popular.

1. It’s free!
2. It’s easy to learn! C-like syntax is used to make it easy for professional and non-professional programmers alike.
3. It’s versatile! It doesn’t matter which platform you use. It runs on Windows, Linux, MacOS X and even Unix.
4. It’s script-friendly! It can be mixed with HTML tags and code.
5. It’s multi-faceted! It has a plethora of functions and API’s.

freezoka Enhances Free Hosting Service

Bart — Tue, 10 Aug 2010 11:18:13 +0000

freezoka is also going PHP friendly! W00t!

Yep, the free hosting provider freezoka has recently made improvements to its service. These improvements are intended to better meet the needs and demands of its users.

If you are familiar with freezoka, you already know that it make use of Add-On Domains and Subdomains features in its control panel, right? This time, it is introducing Parked Domains function in its user control panels. This allows users to �park any domains� they might own without pointing to a specific Website.

It has also removed its Google and pop-up ads from user pages. These ads were the site�s former method of getting support. It has now opted to partner with an audio advertising company. Audio ads will play for five seconds when a new page loads.

But the major change is that it has now set the PHP safe mode default to �off.� Previously it has prevented the running of other scripts. This improvement makes the freezoka-hosted Websites more flexible than those hosted by others.

Source: Webhost Dir