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Posted: Wed Sep 26, 2007 5:35 pm
by pickle
Do you own the article or does php|architect? I think I know the answer, but if it's you, you could copy & paste it here.

Posted: Wed Sep 26, 2007 6:27 pm
by Maugrim_The_Reaper
I'll be reading it tomorrow and will critique you something terrible ;)

Posted: Thu Sep 27, 2007 8:35 am
by infolock
pickle: php|architect owns the article now since they paid me for it. so, I don't think I can copy/paste without seeing some guys in a suit at my front door :P

Maugrim_The_Reaper: excellent =] it was my first time to write an article like this. When I went through it, I found that some of my better points followed some very simple introductory text. So basically, there are goodies after the "duh" points in the article, so don't skim too hard! =]

Posted: Thu Sep 27, 2007 9:37 am
by feyd
How about an abstract?

Posted: Thu Sep 27, 2007 9:47 am
by infolock
I'm sure they would be cool with an abstract, so here we go.
"Today it is exactly three years ago since PHP 5 has been released. In those three years it has seen many improvements over PHP 4. PHP 5 is fast, stable & production-ready and as PHP 6 is on the way, PHP 4 will be discontinued." – PHP.net, 13 July 2007

PHP developers all over the world have been anxiously expecting to hear these words for some time. To the developer who stuck with version 4 due to version 5’s unresolved bugs and stability issues, they are a major wake-up call. PHP 4, as of July 13, 2007, will be discontinued. The final patch will be at or before December 12, 2007, and the PHP team will give us only critical fixes until August 2008, when PHP 4 will finally be left on its own to wither and die.

The big question: So now what? The big answer: Stop dragging your feet and migrate with me to PHP 5. With PHP 6 approaching beta, now is the time for developers and companies alike to let go of their trusty PHP 4 engine and step into the world of PHP 5.

A lot of developers (including this author) have been too lazy, scared, or bull-headed to migrate to 5. Their reasons are, for the most part, entirely valid. PHP 5 had many issues including bugs, numerous exploits, instability, and lack of solid backwards compatibility. While some compatibility issues remain, the other concerns have been addressed. Now the only thing left for developers to get over is having to rewrite their code to make it compliant with 5.

This article is here to provide you, the developer, with the following information for migrating to PHP 5:
• Preparation – What to expect and how to overcome obstacles like backwards compatibility issues.
• New Mentality – Things to keep in mind in PHP 5’s new development environment.
• Installation – Backing up your current environment and code, and then bringing in PHP 5.
• Initialization File – Understanding the new INI settings .
• Roll Out – The future of PHP is speed and power. It’s time to take advantage of it.

Posted: Thu Sep 27, 2007 10:09 am
by The Phoenix
infolock wrote:I'm sure they would be cool with an abstract, so here we go.
Looks like a very useful article, and based on your posts here, I'm sure I'd love to read it. Shame its pay-to-read. Maybe I'll get lucky and it will be the featured article. :)

Posted: Thu Sep 27, 2007 10:15 am
by Luke
Looks like a very useful article, and based on your posts here, I'm sure I'd love to read it. Shame its pay-to-read. Maybe I'll get lucky and it will be the featured article.
++

The only critique I have is that I hate it when people tell me who I am when I'm reading something... I know I'm the developer. Other than that though... :)

Posted: Fri Sep 28, 2007 9:14 pm
by infolock
thanks a lot guys, I'm glad you enjoyed it. thanks for the criticism, I'll keep that in mind for the next article!

Posted: Sat Sep 29, 2007 2:17 am
by matthijs
Just found the time to read your article. I liked it. A few points of critique, since you asked so nicely:
In the section about installation you write:
You must be using a Unix/Linux distribution.
(Sorry Mac and Windows users. The install.txt file included with PHP and the online manual both hold well-written instructions and should pose no problem at all for you to follow.)
What do you mean by that? You say: "sorry Mac and windows users." which would mean to mean I can't install PHP5. And then you say " The install.txt file included with PHP and the online manual both hold well-written instructions and should pose no problem at all for you to follow" which would mean it would be easy for me if I had Mac or Windows. I don't understand this.

Second point: You are first talking about the install.txt file. And then later you have your last point:
Finally, you must also already have down-loaded PHP 5.2.3 (which, at the time of this writing, is the most recent version of PHP 5 available).
But the install.txt file is located in the download, so this last point doesn't make much sense or was a bit confusing. How could I have read the install.txt file if I didn't have the download?

Then you say "whether or not you meet the above requirements, we must take a few steps before installing"
But that sentence confused me a bit. Were those first preparations not important or necessary?

Then in that second list there's again the point: "Download the latest version of PHP". But we already did that, didn't we?

All in all, I found this part a bit confusing. Not that I didn't understand what you meant to write, but i just think it could have been written down a bit clearer.

Finally, the closing section of the article could have been shorter for me. I mean the talking about celebrating with your team mates etc. I think I would have liked to see that section a bit shorter and then have a bit more space for the installation section, in which a lot of steps are taken in a short piece of text.

Having said all this, I enjoyed your article and it does encourage me to migrate to PHP5 faster. haven't written much in PHP4 anyway, so no problem for me ;)

About the copyright issue: the fact that PHP architect payed you to write the article doesn't mean you don't own the copyright. As the writer you will always keep the copyright unless you sign a written contract in which you transfer it to someone else.

Posted: Tue Oct 02, 2007 8:58 am
by infolock
matthijs: Thanks a lot for that! It helps me to keep things like this in mind when trying to reach a large audience.

I think I even told my buddy who helped me edit this article that the installation section was perhaps my weakest moment in the entire set. It also felt like the flow of the artilcle didn't go the way I wanted it to, but it was my first time so maybe the second round will be better.

Sorry for the confusion. As for mac's, I really didn't know what to do for them. I haven't ever used one, so instead of giving a bunch of hot air instructions, I basically just directed mac users to the php installation section of php.net. Hopefully it can help out in areas that I could not cover. And if the installation of mac is about the same for linux, sorry. I just didn't know ;)


Thanks a lot for your critique. It is very cool to have an outside perspective who can really drill down weak spots so that maybe next time, I can make them stronger. Thanks again man!

Posted: Tue Oct 02, 2007 11:52 am
by Maugrim_The_Reaper
I got caught up in PHPSpec work - reading it now!

I think, from the perspective of someone else who gets paid to write articles (me!), that it does get easier. Eventually you'll end up with your own peculiar style (and brand of bad humour nobody understands ;)) but you'll get better. If you have a blog make it a point to write something informative from your POV more frequently - articles and blog entries are not totally dissimilar. If some area looks to be undercutting the flow you want, don't hesitate to delegate readers to the documentation elsewhere for a primer on it.

Back when I finish reading....

Posted: Tue Oct 02, 2007 2:49 pm
by Maugrim_The_Reaper
Read through, and it hit the sweet spot - I haven't seen a really good migration guide that spells out how relatively simple the move is (outside of the code overhaul ;)). I would have spent a little more time giving names to the new features so a reader could look up the PHP manual to see how cool SimpleXML and DOM are these days, and you just about missed (not your fault ;)) about mysqlnd and PHP 5.3.

I don't think the end was overlong - it ended the article on an encouraging positive note. Another thing that could have been noted was the trend of shared hosts offering both 4 and 5 on the same account with a simple control panel switch. A lot of PHP developers still rely on shared hosting plans (i.e. like me) where we don't need a dedicated box.

Overall, it was a great article. I think php|architect let you down slightly with typos but that's a minor quibble.

Now go propose another article :).

Posted: Wed Oct 03, 2007 9:45 am
by infolock
Maugrim_The_Reaper:
Thanks a lot for that! As for the typos, yeah they actually said they didn't have time to edit it at all and just posted what I gave them. Apparently it was the first time they have ever done that lol...

Anyways, thanks a lot for the review. I'm glad you found it informative at least. I think I've learned a lot from the first one and my second one should be better.


Also, did no one notice my reference to the BFG9000? Or are you not really that big on DOOM ? :) haha... anyways, thanks a lot guys for all your informative responses!