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Posted: Tue Feb 28, 2006 10:25 am
by greenphoenix
Hi there!
My name's Heather, I'm 22 and a bit of a PHP n00b. I've been programming in VB6, C++, and a little in ASM all through college and at work. I just recently got control of the company website, which needs a feedback page with form validation. Enter PHP. I'm loving the language because of its similarity to C++, but I'm still familiarizing myself with it's quirks. You might be hearing a lot from me

Posted: Tue Feb 28, 2006 12:11 pm
by deep_in_doom
hey folks..
I m new into PHP and have mainly done some programming in C and C++.I have just been exposed to PHP and I am really appreciating it's power and simplicity.Hope to
extract some knowledge out of here and can help with what I can.
Hoping to see u in gr8 spirits.
Regards
Re: Identify Yourself!
Posted: Tue Feb 28, 2006 10:05 pm
by supermike
WHAT I'M DOING THESE DAYS
I am a boring person unless you're into the things I like. I love talking existential topics (like you see in Graham Hancock's books), watching good movies, doing carpentry and/or working on my house, listening to old-school music, playing guitars, looking at female supermodels (who doesn't?), watching Dr. House, and doing Linux, PHP, PostgreSQL. On weekends, if I'm not doing something with the family, I'm holed up in my upstairs lair, tapping out code. I wish to be a millionaire with my killer Linux app project on the LAPP platform. I have an hour long commute to work and my explosive creativity and intelligence is heavily underutilized. I think it would be better for me if I formed my own company, wrote my own free software, and became a millionaire from it. I used to own/run a startup for a bit before I folded and sold the code to MCI/Worldcom for pennies on the dollar. So, I'm sort of versed in this startup stuff, but I'm a bit rusty.
WHAT I DO FOR A LIVING
I used to be an ASP and PHP web developer, but my job got outsourced to Brazil. Now I'm an IT Operations Manager and have a staff under me. I don't particularly like the supervisory stuff because it's an extra chore on my heavy technical workload I already have. However, I do it for the cash and the job stability. I also am lucky in that most of my work is now done on Linux, no longer on Windows. I boot up on Ubuntu at the office and at home. My employer has a requirement for Suse Linux, though. ('Which is okay -- I like YaST.) Still, I'd rather be programming than anything else in my life. I am underutilized and underpaid.
FORMAL TRAINING
I have a degree in English with a focus on Creative Writing, although you'd never know it from these quickly-typed posts. (I also type extremely fast, so that's why this is long.) I was planning on being a lawyer. My hobby was computers. Funny how things turned out. Getting through law school is a turnoff for me now, and I don't have the cash. Computers have become my career.
ATTITUDE
I'm a laid back kind of guy. I'm nearly 40 and have a teenage daughter and a young son. I do not flame people -- I ignore rude people and move on. I don't like to hang out in places where rude people hang out.
WHAT MADE ME CROSS OVER TO LINUX
I kept reading all the buzz about Linux and wondered what it was like. I had moved up the ranks in the field of consulting with Microsoft products. During the dot-com era, people joked about how gun-ho Microsoft I was. I even worked directly for them on a contract gig once before I found a higher paying job, elsewhere. Later on, I joined a consulting firm and had to fly around the country, bumping elbows with Microsoft employees. In the end, I learned that most of the employees were rude, backstabbing, egotistical, and seemed to believe the FUD machine coming out of Microsoft. They drank the lemonade and I began to not like the taste, and they didn't like that. In Rhode Island on a gig from Hell, I was asked to take VS.NET classes (while it had just come out of beta) at the same time as my client. I was also supposed to coach my client as I took the class, which is a ridiculous requirement to be in. My client looked at me and said, "It's cool. I'm just playing along with my boss. I'm doing fine. I don't need any coaching, regardless of what they told you." My client and I both worked on the project and did it our own way, and my client was satisfied. But then Microsoft Consulting moved in, made deals with my client's boss, and their gameplan went 180 degrees against the gameplan that my client and I came up with. This sucked. My client tried to stand up to his boss, and defend my actions, but in the end my boss got mad at me and forced me into a situation where I had to ask to be laid off. (We had just laid off and they kept me intact. So, I asked to be laid off to collect unemployment and get my life back in order.)
I was so bitter at my pro-Microsoft employer! However, I did a lot of thinking in the downtime I suddenly had. I realized that Linux was getting easier and easier, and more stable. It's GUI was looking fairly cool. Microsoft, on the other hand, was having trouble. It's OS was getting harder and harder, less secure, and the stability on Microsoft's OS came at the expense of mountains and mountains of slow code. Linux consultants liked to share and help, while consultants with Microsoft products liked to horde and belittle. And anyone who has ever had to work next to Microsoft or in their facility -- they can probably tell war stories about how fraternal and backstabbing the place is. I was tired of the popularity contest these MS-consultant guys wanted to pull. There's more. In order to make it effectively in the Microsoft dev world, you have to purchase MSDN at least every 2 years. That cost a lot of money. In the Linux world, they had JBoss and LAMP/LAPP, and it was free.
Another biggie for me was that I learned in VS.NET class that Microsoft does some things really cool in VS.NET, but other things are not cool -- they run slower, take more lines of code, and/or are a confusing API. I also was told that most .NET components have to "thunk" on an OS that is COM-specific, which consumes processor cycles. Unfortunately, for Microsoft fans, the first OS based on .NET is Vista, and it's not out yet. COM is faster in many ways.
I started to work for another employer, a startup company. In the end, it got bought out by a super-big global corp and I was told I would have to learn Linux. I told a friend this in my neighborhood and he handed me a copy of RH8. That's what put me over the edge. I loved it so much at home, that I started using it at work when I learned I could rdesktop/tsclient into any of my other Windows boxes. My boss approved and I started beefing up my skills very fast. (I'm a very fast learner when it comes to computer stuff.) Now I'm using Ubuntu Linux because I prefer the stability and subtleness of GNOME over KDE. I'm also a fan of apt/synaptic, and RH/Fedora doesn't focus on that set of tools. I made the switch from RH9 to Ubuntu I think a year and a half ago.
WHAT MADE ME CROSS OVER TO PHP
Back in my Visual Basic/ASP days, before I learned C#, I looked at PHP. I was not convinced that I wanted to go in that direction because it was like 1.0. I then abandoned even thinking about it.
When I made the switch to Linux, I had to develop in something, so I hopped on the Sun Java JSP bandwagon. I was moving along steadily with this, but was frustrated by how convoluted and hard some parts of JSP were. I was also frustrated with the OOP. Sometimes I feel that programmers go too far down the OOP angle and never can get anything else done, prolonging the project too long. It's like an academic exercise. I was tired of being hung up in a sea of OOP discussions. I wanted to get my programming done, and I wanted it to run fast. I was also frustrated with the fact that the JSP world is splintered too much, with these slightly incompatible backend JSP server products (some free, some not). I was ready to look elsewhere.
I heard so much buzz about LAMP, so I jumped on that. I got a copy of MySQL and liked it. I got a copy of PHP and went to town, relearning all the basics. PHP had come a long way since the 1.0 days. Also, I liked how PostgreSQL seemed more collegiate to me compared to MySQL, and the dev license was friendlier, so I switched to that and will never turn back. Now I'm a LAPP fanatic. I wish all web apps were written in it. In fact, if I ever got laid off and had no choice but to take a job doing JSP, ASP, or .NET stuff -- I'd probably slit my wrists! From here on out, it's LAPP programming for me.
WHAT WILL HAPPEN TO ME IN SIX MONTHS FROM 3/2006
I'll probably have my killer app finished and will have begun to start building my LLC company, short- and long-term business plan, my website, and my marketing plan. Beyond that, it's anyone's guess on whether I'll have enough interest in my app to the point that I can leave my day job, take a part-time job, or eventually go full-time into my own company.
COOL THINGS I'VE DONE FOR OTHERS
* I like to post stuff that I resolve back onto Usenet (groups.google.com) and/or a few phpBB-style forums I interact with on the web.
* I wrote 'pgst' for PostgreSQL work. It's on SourceForge.
* I've helped people get started in a little PHP, Python, MySQL, and PostgreSQL.
* I've handed out copies of Linux.
* I've taught my boss and co-workers how to install and use Linux, and how to love it.
WHAT I'M TROUBLED ABOUT SOMETIMES
I'm on the border when I consider whether I will sell my killer LAPP software package, or make it freeware, or whether I'll do both. I've spent 4 years building this killer app thing on nights and weekends and my wife cannot stand the idea of just giving it away. She reminds me that I have a regular day job that I must tend to for now, and have bills to pay, and have no time to make money on tech support calls or emails. If I even tried to manage that, I might lose my job because of the distraction. I can only handle that a little -- not too much. So, she wants me to sell the software. In the end, I may make a FAQ-less freeware version (a version without helpfile and only a short README), and one must fill out a form and wait 8 to 48 hours for a link to it to arrive in the email. Then, I'll offer a pay version with lots of rich info about it on the web.
Posted: Sun Mar 05, 2006 12:21 am
by CDilla4Rilla
I am a man who wears many hats in his organization. Currently, I am what I call a "Creative Producer". I manage a small team of creative people specializing in website design, multimedia production, and application development. I myself handle all three, including application deveopment, primarily using PHP/MySQL. I manage the creation of the front and the back-ends of site construction.
Oh yeah! Glad to be here.
Posted: Wed Mar 22, 2006 6:45 am
by sayargyi
Hi everyone,
I am 24, from London, UK. I am a junior web developer in an IT company.
I am using PHP and MySQL. PHP is my favourite script. Flash is one of my strengths in designing web pages.
Well, pleased to be a part of this forum.
Good day!
Posted: Wed Mar 22, 2006 2:35 pm
by irisblaze
Hellos
I'm just someone trying to find job in web development instead of the damn graphic design and teaching people how to program, I hope I'll find that job soon, php is my favorite web developing language.
I'm so happy to join this forum and my php weak point is security I hope I can get it improved
Posted: Mon Mar 27, 2006 3:50 pm
by Red Blaze
I'm new here. Just posting who I am. You'll be seeing me around often since I'm trying to learn more PHP. I am a fast learner, but just in case, please be patient with me.

Posted: Tue Apr 04, 2006 9:53 am
by fai_hasan
HI, I'm faisal from newcastle. I used to live in Luton. I finished my graduation from University of Luton, and now doing my msc in Mobile and Pervasive computing. I did my final year project with JSP, but now i got interested in PHP cause it's a powerful webserver.
wish me all the best

Posted: Tue Apr 04, 2006 11:35 am
by RobertGonzalez
I find it rather odd that I haven't posted here before. But since a lot of other DevNet regulars have posted recently I do believe I shall do the same.
Name: Robert (last name withheld to protect the innocent and severely guilty)
Location: Fremont, California, USA
Personal: One wife of 10 years (almost 11), four daughters, one son, little sleep, littler money
PHP Experience:
I have been developing in PHP since about two weeks before my DevNet join date (some time in 2004). I began writing HTML pages, having learned HTML from a magazine in 1999. I had developed a few crappy web pages that I called a web site when I got an idea for a business. As I began to develop the site for this business I began to realize that a static web was a pain in the but, so I began to look for technologies that would allow dynamic creation of web content and database information. Well, at the time (around 2002) I didn't know any better so I got into Perl and flat file data recording methods. This was cool for a little while, until I learned that you had to hard code all your URL references in your HTML in order for links to work when stuck in the cgi-bin (remember, I was a Perl newbie).
After a few years of dealing with static dynamic content (having to manually update HTML pages and such in a Perl script environment) I decided to look for something better. Then along came PHP.
I took to PHP very quickly, and after just a few months, I had developed my first web site driven entirely by PHP. Looking back on that site, it was some of the crudest code I have ever seen. But that is one of the nice things about PHP. Even if you are a code clutz, you might still be able to luck into something that works

. Now coding comes a lot easier and the knowledge I have gained from this community has been invaluable. In turn, I try my best to help as many others as I can so they too can one day pay it forward.
Glad I had a chance to write this stuff down. It was kinda nice reminiscing about it.
Posted: Tue Apr 04, 2006 2:39 pm
by R4000
i can't remember if i did this or not, but here goes!
Name: peter corcoran
location: cambridge
age: 15
php experiance: 4 yrs.
php level: Intermediate (wouldnt call myself an expert but im damn good xD)
Posted: Tue Apr 04, 2006 8:12 pm
by khendar
Does anyone actually ever read this thing ?
Anywho...Hi my name's Tim. I'm from Adelaide, South Australia. I hold a double degree in Computer and Information Science and Arts (Multimedia) from the University of South Australia. Self taught PHP programmer currently working on online business directories and CMS's for a small Adelaide company. And I do some web design/programming/consulting work on the side.
My pet project at the moment is a CMS on which I have been working for about 3 months now and almost ready for a beta release. The goal of the project is to be fully W3C and WAI compliant, completely modular and have an idiot proof installation procedure.
I enjoying gaming, lanning, reading, bowling and chilling.
Just New!
Posted: Tue Apr 18, 2006 2:54 pm
by strive4impact
Hi!
I'm new to PHP, but have been working in Internet Marketing since 1999. I am excited to be part of the DevNetwork!
Primarily ARTIST, Secondarily CODER :P
Posted: Thu Apr 20, 2006 6:26 am
by kruze
Hi There,
My name's kruze Im an industry qualified game developer responsible for the art assets featured in a number of computer games dating back as far as the 80's (god I'm old). Just here really because I'm looking to partner with a PHP/MySQL coder on a project I've been planning for a while now.
Although I'm a graphic artist, I do dabble in some windows coding (albeit BlitzBasic

)and presently looking to dabble with PHP. Just coding a simple World High Score table but these PHP arrays are weird lol. Nearly done it anyway so I won't waffle further.
Hope to meet some good people here and contribute my art expertise towards other members projects.
kRUZe
Posted: Thu Apr 20, 2006 6:33 am
by Chris Corbyn
khendar wrote:Does anyone actually ever read this thing ?
Yep
kruze wrote:Hi There
Hi!

Posted: Thu Apr 20, 2006 8:24 am
by Maugrim_The_Reaper
We are watching...
