PHP/MySQL-driven development, Windows 7, JavaScript
What is a webjawn?
Mar 4th
We are giving in… after many inquiries into this so-called “webjawn,” we’ve decided to give up the state secret. To understand this word, we must explore its origins. On the streets of my hometown (Philly), a jawn is anything. It can be a dime, an ink blot, a VGA-to-DVI
- Something; any object place or thing (en.wiktionary.org/wiki/jawn)
- Jawnt, or Joint: Noun that is used in casual conversation to describe any person, place, or especially a thing (list.wikia.com/wiki/Philadelphia_slang)
Now that we’ve gotten the etymology out of the way, we can begin the fusion between the web and it’s jawns until we get the desired result – a whole lotta webjawns. Now that the enigma has been dissipated, people will sleep soundly, birds will flock, worker bees will work, and we’ll develop web applications and brand new webjawns.
Zend Framework 2.0 Buzz
Mar 3rd
The buzz behind Zend Framework 2.0 is growing rapidly everyday, and not without good reason. Zend Framework 2.0 will utilize the very best of PHP to create a more stable, secure, and better performing framework. Although nothing is set in stone, listed below are some of the highlights so far:
- Minimum version: PHP 5.3+
- Not backwards compatible
- Improved consistence between componenets
- __construct() – Constructors will accept options via arrays or Zend_Config
- Option keys will not use camel caps or uppercase, but instead will utilize lowercase underscore-separated words
- Elimination of most singletons
- Utilization of PHP 5.3 features
- __invoke() and closures – for use within plugin architecture
- Namespaces – to help with the super-long class names (Zend_Search_Lucene_Analysis_Analyzer_Common_TextNum_CaseInsensitive comes to mind)
- goto – to be used when creating Finite State Machines (FSM) and parsers (Zend_Search_Lucene, Zend_Ical, Zend_Markup)
- Autoload-only for all ZF components
- Zend_View
- Allow optional use of streams for systems where short_open_tags are disabled
- Automatic escaping of variables
- Use PluginLoader instead of internal system for managing plugins
There’s a lot of great discussion going on within the official Zend Framework 2.0 Roadmap, as well as a general outline on Zend’s plans, so get over there and read up!
Zend_Search_Lucene_Analysis_Analyzer_Common_TextNum_CaseInsensitive
Stability, security-focused PHP 5.2.13 released today
Feb 25th
PHP 5.2.13 was released today, fixing over 40 bugs. PHP recommends that all users on the 5.2 branch upgrade as soon as possible. Included below are various bugs fixed in this release, and links to the official changelog, release announcement, and download page.
- Improved LCG entropy (security)
- Fixed safe_mode validation inside tempnam() when… (security)
- Fixed open_basedir/safe_mode bypass in session extension (security)
- Upgraded to PCRE 7.9
- Fixed strip_tags() bug that removed parameters over 1023 bytes even when in exclude list
- Regarding define() and defined()
- :: was allowed to be included within constant name using define(), issuing a fatal error vs. E_WARNING
- defined() no longer requires a class to exist when testing class constant
- PHP 5.2.13 Changelog
- PHP 5.2.13 Release Announcement
- Download PHP 5.2.13
TPC! Memory Usage: Honorable Mentions
Feb 21st
I’m proud to say that TPC! Memory Usage for WordPress has been adopted by a lot of WordPress administrators out there, and initial reviews have been great. Today, I found a few articles that TPC! users may find useful and interesting, including one which benchmarks popular WordPress plugins.
- WordPress and Server RAM: Your (many) Plugin Uses (much) Memory – TPC! Memory Usage driven benchmark of memory used by popular WordPress plugins
- The Answer of X-Factor: What Your Web Hosting Don’t Want You to Know – Informative article discussing CPU load averages, shared hosting, memory usage, etc.
- Ten Useful WordPress Plugins You May Have Missed – Honorable mention prior to custom checkpoint implementation
- WordPress CMS Review at WebHelper Magazine – Cited as a “key plugin”
If we missed an article, please let us know so we can post it. Thank you to everyone for your continued support!
Tips for reducing repetitive stress injuries as a programmer
Jan 24th
Workrave screenshot
RSIs, or repetitive stress injuries, can spell doomsday for a programmer or web developer. It’s what many of us fear the most; after all, it’s our life’s work, our passion, our love. I think it is safe to say that pretty much every programmer has felt wrist pain at one time or another. Many times, it goes ignored, which only worsens the problem. There is a lot of research in this area, and as a result there are many preventative measures that can be taken to prevent RSIs. Read the rest of this entry »
Optimize PHP, Apache & MySQL for performance
Jan 21st
Two MySQL tuner scripts
MySQLTuner (Perl) and MySQL Performance Tuning Primer (Shell) are two scripts that can help diagnose MySQL database performance issues, and provide recommendations on how to solve them. While both scripts output similar information, the diagnosis can be slightly different with each script, so I like to use both. Below are directions on how to use them, as well as a few screenshots.
# Download MySQLTuner and MySQL Performance Tuning Primer to ~/scripts. # To avoid having to invoke Perl/SH each time, make both files executable. chmod +x ~/scripts/mysqltuner.pl chmod +x ~/scripts/tuning-primer.sh # After that, give them a go! ~/scripts/mysqltuner.pl ~/scripts/tuning-primer.sh
Major improvements in TPC! Memory Usage for WordPress
Jan 6th
Over the past few weeks, I’ve been actively developing some long-awaited TPC! Memory Usage features. The highlights of the latest release are listed below. I believe that these will help WordPress developers and administrators improve scalability and performance of their blogs and custom applications.
- Custom checkpoints allow administrators to measure memory usage anywhere a WordPress action is available.
- Optional file logging allows administrators to have an effective way of tracking memory usage.
- Improved Security Check, and listed additional variables in System Overview.
- Fixed various bugs (special thanks to those who have taken the time to report issues).
As we continue to improve TPC! Memory Usage and implement new features, we would love to hear your thoughts. Feel free to leave a message on the official TPC! Memory Usage page. As always, thank you for your continued support.
Download TPC! Memory Usage
PHP 5.3.1 now available in WHM/cPanel’s EasyApache
Dec 26th
After much patience and persistence on the part of myself and many other individuals, we now have PHP 5.3.x support in EasyApache, starting with PHP 5.3.1. For those of you who may be unaware, EasyApache is WHM/cPanel’s tool for creating custom compilations of Apache and PHP. This solves many problems for those who have been doing this “behind the scenes,” as well as those who wish to utilize some of the great new features implemented in the 5.3 series. PHP 5.3.1 introduces namespaces, late static binding, decreased memory usage (YMMV), several new extensions, and improved MySQL support. Be sure to check your scripts for compatibility before going live with PHP 5.3.1 on a production server. Some scripts will be affected by some of the changes, so testing is extremely important.
- Additional information can be found at the link below (several plugins are no longer supported, Zend Optimizer compatibility, etc.):
- All the correspondence leading up to this beautiful moment:
Using memcached with WordPress
Dec 20th
wp-settings.php
Today, I decided to implement a popular distributed caching system called memcached. Memcached allows PHP objects and variables to be stored in memory, which when used properly, can decrease page load time and server load. Memcached can also work as a central cache for a cluster of servers. File-based caching systems work by generating static files, and storing them in a local directory to be served in place of the dynamic content. This can reduce the number of database queries, and help avoid having to process the script with each new request; however, there is a downside. Read the rest of this entry »
PHP 5.2.12 released
Dec 17th
We’ve been paying close attention to new PHP releases, with a focus on the 5.3.x series release branch, but an important security update has been made to the 5.2.x branch. The new max_file_uploads PHP directive will prevent DOS (denial of service) attacks that happen by using file uploads to create temporary file exhaustion. This is an important one, and should be implemented as soon as possible. Links to the release announcement, changelog, and download page are listed below. On a side note, WHM/cPanel has not updated EasyApache yet, but we are assuming this will come soon. We’ve also gotten word that, due to popular demand (thank you everyone), cPanel is working as fast as possible in getting PHP 5.3.1 into EasyApache (see cPanel forum post for more info: http://bit.ly/931YpZ).
Download PHP 5.2.12
http://www.php.net/releases/5_2_12.php