How ever, looking at the statistics that you can watch if you click on the links on This page: http://www.php.net/usage.php
You will notice that the usage of PHP is going down. C# is on the rise and so are other programming languages like Python.

I can understand why it is faster to program websites in C# (or .Net), and I do think that PHP should move in that direction. How ever.

I just had an enlightening moment with PHP and Smarty. It is so freakin’ fast to create forms and templates with Smarty that coding websites is more fun.

Earlier it’s been code this, then that and then populate that string. With Smarty you just create the template, look at it and decide that – yes this is what I want my page to look like – THEN – start populating the different elements on the page.
FAN-Tastic!
Still there are things that is easier in a real object oriented language like – for instance – C#. Whereas you’d do this for instance:
string strTest = “This is a text where I would like to replace goosebumps with cheeze!”;
So you do this: strTest.Replace(“goosebumps”, “cheeze”);
Instead of:
$strTemp = “Goosebumps shall be replaced”;
$strNew = str_replace(“Goosebumps”, “cheeze”, $strTemp);

But anyway. This is not a blogpost where I bash on PHP, I am just saying that it seems like the interest of PHP is declining. Maybe the community should do something about it.

Make it easier and more joy able to code websites.

This is the solution:

First you connect to your ftp-server
$connection = ftp_connect($ftp_server);
$login = ftp_login($connection, $ftp_user_name, $ftp_password);


You then check if it was possible to log in. If it wasn’t, you have to end the script.

if (!$connection || !$login) {
die('Connection attempt failed!');
}


I then created a local directory (/temp/) where I want these files to be downloaded. Then I created a filename.
For my solution I am getting most values from a database, so here I am only creating a example filename

$localfile = "./temp/example.doc";
$remotefile = "/dir/seconddir/example.doc";


Now we do the actual download and at the same time the download to the visitor:

if (ftp_get($connection, $localfile, $remotefile, FTP_BINARY)){
header('Content-Length: '. filesize($localfile));
header('Content-Type: application/octet-stream');
header('Content-Disposition: attachment; filename="'.basename($localfile).'"');
header('Content-Transfer-Encoding: binary');
header('Cache-Control: must-revalidate, post-check=0, pre-check=0');
readfile($localfile); // send the file
exit; // make sure no extraneous characters get appended
}


The file will be stored locally, and since you don’t know when the user has gotten the file, set up a cronjob to remove downloaded files so that your area doesn’t get filled with files you don’t need.

What you also can do, is to check if the file is downloaded already.

Link to original post
I hope this was of help for someone.

That is, is, is … awesome (Again, I never really believed that I would ever write this in a blog post)

There are of course cons related to .Net web application development.
Configuring the IIS-server isn’t quite understandable, and you cannot go to the IIS.conf file to see what has been done to it in order to make it work like it is. So I would give Apache the victory here!

I have been working/maintaining/fixing on some websites that has been depended on .dll-files. One we recently had to upgrade from 1.1 to 3.5, and making it work under 3.5 wasn’t all that understandable – well at least not for me – but then again, I am still a Noob when it comes to .Net Web Application Development.
Again, I’ll give PHP the advantage here as it is much easier to understand what has been done. the PHP.ini-file and such is easy to either go through or diff against the default PHP.ini to spot differences.

But for rapidness, especially when you start a project from scratch – ASP.Net gets one point.

This is where PHP must be heading. Yes it is easier to start with PHP. Or at least that is what used to be the best argument to start programming your dynamic web solution with PHP. But dragging, do some coding, and so on, will mean that .Net development will narrow the gap between PHP and ASP.Net.

According to websites PHP is still the most popular language to use when it comes to web development.
A search on PHP and asp on GoogleFight returns:
301.000.000 (301 million) results for PHP and 98.800.000 (98.8 million) results for asp
ASP.net returns 30.400.000 (30.4 million) hits.

TIOBE Programming Community Index for January 2010 tells us that PHP is on the rise. It’s on third place behind Java and C, but in front of C++. VB is in fifth while C# is on 6th place. I believe I would put those two together to get some ASP.Net figgures.
The two/three languages below:
3 5 PHP 10.071% +1.19% A
5 4 (Visual) Basic 7.354% -1.81% A
6 6 C# 5.767% +0.16% A

PHP is still my language of choice, but I will follow ASP.Net closely. .Net 2.0 is dated and so I need a book for 3.5… (and probably 4.0) to see what’s new.

Coming from the Windows side of things and being used to Visual Basic (I probably have the 1.0 floppy somewhere if I start looking!!!), Delphi and now lately Visual Studio (It might seem weird that I’ve just recently been introduced to VS, but I have mostly coded in PHP and classic ASP for the last 8-10 years, and then you sort of don’t need VS), I have been accustomed to drag’n drop + double click to add code to the application. I have yet to write an application for Linux, but I have made a few attempts. My first attempt included being introduced to the Glade application which is/was used to create the layout of the application – aka GUI. Then you write the code in another IDE.

This was (hm) a while back – not writing year here, but I can write years if you like…

The Good

With the introduction of MonoDevelop, Real Basic and QT we don’t have to open one application to create the GUI and a second one to attach code. It is all being done (and taken care of) in one development tool. This is, and I’d like to emphasize on this, the best way to write applications (my humble opinion – hey my blog!). The tool and GUI-designer is implemented and things can and should work smoothly. Also: You don’t have to learn two applications and probably also two “languages” – although I am all for having knowledge in as many programming languages as you can. I can now code in C#, VB.Net, Delphi/Pascal (although somewhat very rusty), Perl (briefly, by no means an expert and more or less a novice  and PHP (if that is considered a programming language).

I have tested QT, MonoDevelop and Real Basic. As I am no C++ developer (but I wish I was!), QT would be my choice of  development tool to use when learning that language. Real Basic has only been tested a few times after listening to Bryan Lunduke (Linux Action Show / Computer Action Show) speaking highly of it. MonoDevelop is as of now the tool I use when I’m now doing some C# stuff on Linux and trying to get the grips of  GTK-development.

I do want to check out Python as a programming language as I have heard so much positive things regarding the language. But writing an application where you use Glade + editor of choice is not something I want to do. Not in 2009/2010. I think I’ve read somewhere that it can be possible to write applications in Python using QT, but I haven’t spent to much time getting this to work – as I don’t know that much Python – yet…

One thing though: By using Glade and similar applications you separate logic with presentation which can/is a good thing. But there are also drawbacks to this way of designing and developing applications. More below.

The “Bad”

I have also tried Android development in Eclipse, and it seems promising. But again: If the only way to create a GUI is to write XML-code, then no thanks. To the developers of development tools out there: Look at the calendar. It is – as of writing – saying December 19 in 2009, start creating drag’n drop applications.

This also goes for creating Web applications (as this is the new term for web pages). DreamWeaver alternatives for Linux? Not even close. Visual Studio + PHP under Linux. Nope.

Two years ago I attended a class to get a jumpstart on C#-development. And I was shown how to create a zebra-striped/styled datalist in VS. The teacher showed me how to do this in three ways: the first one without using any code, the second way with some code and placing the “plugin” and the last way by creating the object and so on.

So let’s say you have never programmed anything in your entire life. Which one would you start using to get going and to be inspired to code more? First one, most likely – until you understand that it gives you some restrictions and/or problems down the line. But at least you get inspired. You get the application out there to impress friends/boss/yourself quickly.

There are of course drawbacks to this type of applications. No one can argue that DW and such applications creates optimized code. And I am my self a user of Notepad-like applications to generate PHP-code – that is – I have moved from Bluefish to Aptana/Eclipse. Sometimes I do wish it was a faster way to create forms than the way I do it now – even though it doesn’t take that much time.

I have checked out Zend Studio – which is now an Eclipse plugin, and I was hoping that ZS would be the way to do the same thing for PHP under Linux/Windows. Nope – not as I have found out – yet. It saddens me. Especially because they market this as “Zend Studio 7.1 is the next generation of our professional-grade PHP application development environment. It has been designed to maximize developer productivity by enabling you to develop and maintain code faster, solve application problems quickly and improve team collaboration.”

I don’t think they are close to be a next generation professional-grade PHP application development environment. This is 2009 (soon 2010) and 7.1 should’ve had drag’n drop datalists, form creation in place. I hope, how ever, that ZS will in the end turn out to become a drag’n drop Rapid Web Application development (RWAD – Coined by Trond Husø on December 19, 2009!!!) tool for PHP.

My Dream!
Maybe, in 2010(not likely) we could have a universal Rapid Application Development tool to be used to develop Linux applications that supports Python, Java, Perl, C, C++, PHP (if you want to!), C# and any other programming languages you can think of. And most importantly: The RAD tool should work out of the box. No spending much time on plugins and so on.

Some links:
There are some RAD applications out there and here are some links:
Python
Dabo

Visual Basic

Gambas

MonoDevelop

Pascal

Lazarus

(more links to come – obviously… – please do suggest some!)

Another discussion regarding development under Linux:

Putting the Squeeze on Python Application Development

(more links to come)

But is this a safe approach?
Why/Why not?
Why not?
Please comment:

/**
* This code shall update the twitter-status when a new graphic is posted
* It will be using the Zend Framework
*/
$path = ‘/Zend/library/’;
set_include_path(get_include_path() . PATH_SEPARATOR . $path);
include “Zend/Service/Twitter.php”;
# include “Rest/client.php”;

# Connect to the twitter-service
try {
$twitter = new Zend_Service_Twitter(‘username’, ‘password’);

echo “that’s nice
\n”;
echo “Followers: “.$twitter->userFollowers();

# verify your credentials with twitter
$response = $twitter->accountVerifyCredentials();

# Here you should add:
echo $response->error;

echo “That’s great!”.$response.”
\n”;

# echo “StatusShow: “.$twitter->statusShow($response).”\n”;
echo “status: “.$twitter->status->friendsTimeline().”\n”;

$response = $twitter->status->userTimeline();
$twitterstatus = (string)$response->status[0]->text;
echo “twitterstatus: “.$twitterstatus.”\n”;

echo “timeline: “.$twitter->status->UserTimeline().”\n”;

$response = $twitter->status->update(‘My Great Tweet-from PHP’);
} catch (exception $e) {
echo “That’s odd
\n”;
echo $e;
exit();
} catch (Zend_Service_Twitter_Exception $t){
echo “Hello there!
\n”;
echo $t;
exit();
}

?>

Fixed: I had the wrong password.

PHP
Professional PHP Programming (Wrox) (first PHP book that I bought)
Programming PHP (O’Reilly)
Web Database Applications with PHP and mySQL (O’Reilly)
Object-Oriented PHP (No Starch Press)
Latest additions:
Advanced PHP Programming (Developer’s Library)
CodeIgniter (Wrox)
Professional Search Engine Optimization with PHP (Wrox)
PHP Cookbook (O’Reilly)
PHP Objects, Patterns and Practice (apress)
php|architect’s Guide to PHP Security (php|architect’s)
php|architect’s Guide to Date and Time Programming (php|architect’s)
Essential PHP Security (O’Reilly)

Javascript/AJAX:
Javascript The Definitive Guide (O’Reilly)
AJAX The complete Reference (Mc Graw Hill)
Professional AJAX (Wrox)
Javascript: The Good Parts (O’Reilly)
Dojo: The Definitive Guide (O’Reilly)
jQuery: Jquery Novice to Ninja (Sitepoint)

mySQL
mySQL and Perl for the Web (New Rides)
MySQL (Developer’s Library)
High Performance mySQL (O’Reilly)

Perl
Perl Cookbook (O’Reilly)
Perl for Web Site Managers (O’Reilly)

Other languages
C# 2005 (Wrox)
ASP.NET 2.0 (Wrox)

XML
XML A Beginners Guide (Mc Graw Hill)
XSLT (O’Reilly)

Other
Web Form Design (Rosenfeld)
Apache 2 Pocket Reference (O’Reilly)

OS:
Ubuntu: The OS of choise. Although I might return to Windows because there are tools there that I find better. (Photoshop, Visual Studio, InDesign, Illustrator, PHPed… and the list continues)

Main development tools:
Editor: Komodo IDE 5.X … or Aptana Studio Professional
Browser: Firefox (But I have to test on other browsers as well…)
vmWare: for testing on Safari and Internet Explorer under Windows. (Currently not installed after upgrade of Ubuntu)

Languages:
PHP – This is my main development language, but I also do write ASP.net/ASP on occasions.
Perl – This language comes into use when PHP is limited (like on uploading big files)
Javascript – Used to enhance the user experience for the application. I have now started to use jQuery.

Other Tools:
Inkscape: To create graphics.
Gimp: To edit pictures – although I really, really, really don’t like the program as I am more familiar with Photoshop. I have looked at a program called Pixel which seems promising.
Komodo IDE: This is the editor I use at the moment. I have even paid a license for it. I am considering Zend for Eclipse, but I find the fee rather high. I know that under Windows I wouldn’t mind paying for it, but under linux I think I find Eclipse a tad bid unstable… (or am I wrong – prove me!)
Aptana Studio Pro: I am switching back and forth from Aptana and Komodo. There are some things that I like about Aptana and there are things that I like about Komodo. The latest is faster, but I am missing a few things. One thing is the Tasks “window”. It is in Aptana (and in Netbeans – where I first saw it – and probably also in Eclipse since Aptana builds on Eclipse). I do wish that the Aptana developers did something to the task-window as I would very much like to see only the tasks that are at hand in the file that I am working in – or in the files that I have opened at the current time.