Since my primary keyword in my blog is “filipino php programmer”, I would like to write this article that tackles how is the typical life of a Filipino PHP Programmer. I will try to describe bit by bit what are the things that we “filipino PHP programmer” are interested on. This article may be one sided because my basis is just my personal experience in the field of PHP programming. You may agree or disagree with the contents and examples that I will be giving throughout the discussion. You are free to add up your ideas, comments and suggestion after I have submitted this article.
DEVELOPMENT TOOLS
As a programmer in general, in order to develop applications, programs or scripts we need some tools to efficiently code and write down complex algorithmic php programs. As of this date there tons of PHP programming tools available on the net. There are IDEs, Database connectivity client, Code optimizer, code profilers and other tools that being use day to day by Filipino php programmers, may it be at work or at play(writing codes just for fun). But typically what kind of tools that we use? What environment are we working on? I would like to answer these questions by listing some of the tools I know that I am currently using.
1. Development Environment – I know that in order for you to start working on PHP programming you need PHP Engine primarily, the database engine (in my case I use MySQL) and a Web Server (if you wanted to apply your code on the web.) In early days we usually install these engine separately (PHP, MySQL and Apache) in order to start the development. What we try to do is download all 3 engines from their respective websites, read their README and INSTALL files, and follow their instructions there. I still remember those days of spending longs hours configuring Apache to integrate PHP into it, and these lines are still engrave in my mind.
LoadModule php4_module php/sapi/php4apache2.dll
AddType application/x-httpd-php .php
But fortunately today, development environment comes in packages already. Installation packages that comprises of all engines needed to run a full PHP application. Xampp is one of the nice package that I personally use. This cool development package is a one shot installation that comprises already the Apache web server, MySQL Engine, PHP and Perl interpreter. All you need to do is download the installation file or the zip file and run it on you PC, laptop or even server.
2. Editors - like MS Word, Notepad and Wordpad that are document or text editors, PHP programmer need editors to write down their codes. For some PHP programmer I have met and ask, usually have different preferences when it comes to editors. Mostly their choice of editor is their first editor when they started PHP programming. Their reason why sticking to their editor is that they are already adept with it, and changing it will change also their coding preferences and huge adjustment for them. On my personal survey these are the common Editors they are using
Macromedia Dreamweaver – commercial; can run on Windows and Mac
Zend Studio – commercial; can run on Windows, Linux, Unix and Mac; has 30 day trial
Nusphere – commercial; can run on Windows and Linux; has 30 day trial
Vi or Vim – freeware; can run onWindows, Linux and Unix
3. Database applications – database applications are softwares that enable programmer to manipulate database data directly. These database applications enable a PHP programmer to perform DML(Data Manipulation Language) or DDL(Data Definition Language) activity on the Database server. Some of these database applications may be in a web interface like PHP MyAdmin and client side like MySQL CC(not available anymore), MySQL Query Browser, Navicat, EMS, etc.
4. Resources – it is but natural for any programmer to have resources, whether offline or online. Resources are very useful when we are getting syntax of some functions seldomly use, or tags that we are not sure of their structure or even information we can use in our project or task as php programmers. Here are some of the offline resoures that I am using
PHP Help – in chm format
Ebooks – electronic ebooks like, PHP Cookbook, Web Development using PHP & MySQL
Some of the online resources that I usually go whenever I need extra help online are
w3schools – online tutorial on different language and technology which includes PHP, HTML, CSS, etc.
PHP.net - main site of PHP, for online manual
MySQL Reference – mysql reference
DevShed - useful PHP applications and tutorials
5. Other Development Tools/Resources – aside from the tools and resources that I mentioned above. I would like also to list down some important sites that directly or indirectly gives bits of information to my PHP programming life. These are
Digg – researching for latest news on the IT industry.
Sitepoint – gives some useful information on the latest trend on different IT related field like programming, SEO, etc
Mozilla Firefox - the browser itself and the many addons like Bugzilla, Web developers toolbar, Measure It, Colorzilla, and other cool extensions
INTEREST
In this section I would like to describe what are the interest of a typical Filipino PHP Programmer. These interest may or may not be related to programming. Basically these are hobbies, habits, liesure, addictions(non-drug or alcoholic) of some programmers that I’ve known.
Food and Beverages:
Soda – softdrinks in can preferably
Coffee – use to fight drowsiness and boost alertness
Cigarette – study shows that smoking while thinking boost up the ability of the brain to think(well not advised).
Burger – burger machine, burger king
Pizza – pizza hut preferably
Hobbies/Leisures:
RC – remote control cars
Pets – like dogs, fish, etc
Sleeping – no comment
Games – RPG, Online-games, PS2, PSP, Nintendo, Xbox, etc.
to be continued…
