Re: the state of the PHP community

On Thu, 2010-07-29 at 22:14 -0400, Robert Cummings wrote: > On 10-07-29 01:36 AM, Nathan Rixham wrote: > > Hi All, > > > > I find myself wondering about the state of the PHP community (and > > related community with a PHP focus), so, here's a bunch of questions - > > feel free to answer none to all of them, on list or off, or add more of > > your own - this isn't for anything specific, just out of interest and > > sure I (and everybody who reads the replies) will learn something + > > doors/options/contacts may come of it. The only thing I can guarantee is > > that I'm genuinely interested in every reply and will read every one of > > them + lookup every tech and link mentioned. > > > > in no particular order: > > > > What other languages and web techs do you currently use other than PHP? > > - if you include html or css please include version, if js then > > preferred libs, and whether client or server side. > > > > What's your previous language/tech trail? > > Early high school I used to program in basic on a TRS-80. Oh how I loved > saving my programs to audio cassette. Later in high school I learned > pascal and then later qbasic. Later still I studied computer science and > was exposed to many different languages C, C++, Smalltalk, Java, > Scheme, Prolog, Perl, JavaScript, HTML, VRML, SQL that I remember. When > I finished university I walked straight into a PHP job knowing not an > iota of PHP. I came up to speed the first week and fell in love with it. > That was around March 2000. The company there always used Java also, as > part of a desktop suite to manage the web content. Towards the end of > 2002 they began an effort to create a Java based web framework to > parallel their PHP framework and so I used Java more at that time. Then > the dot com crash caught up with them and layoffs ensued. > > > Are you considering any new languages or techs, and if so which? > > - names / links > > I'm considering more mobile based development languages/platforms. > > > Is PHP your hobby/interest, primary development language, just learning or? > > For the past 10 years PHP has been all of the above. > > > How many years have you been using PHP regularly? > > 10 > > > How many years have you been working with web technologies? > > About 14. > > > Did you come from a non-web programming background? > > My initial enrolment in university was before the Inernet took off. I > remember using Mosaic in my first year, having an email address that > only other university students communicated with. As such, my initial > intent has no consideration for the Web. By the time I finished school > though, the Web was all the rage. > > > Is your primary role web developer or designer? > > I am almost never a designer, though I can give critique >:) Primarily I > am the systems administrator, software architect, and software > developer. At times I am also the project manager. > > > In your developer life, are you an employer, and employee, contractor, > > freelancer, part of a team of equal standing members? > > These days I have a finger or two in all of the above. > > > Do you tend to work on jobs for geo-local clients, clients in the same > > country, or do you work internationally 'on the web'? > > I don't really care for whom I do work (with obvious moral > qualifications). But my experience has been international having done > work for Canadian, U.S., and British clients. Most importantly, I like > the flexibility of working from home where I can concentrate on the task > at hand uninterrupted for hours. > > > How do you get your projects? do they come to you, word of mouth, do you > > hunt and bid for projects, code call, visit clients, target clients > > individually you think you can help, or? > > - not looking for trade secrets, just to get enough for an overall picture. > > Almost all work has been word of mouth. Often, after I've done work for > someone, they return for more. Some relationships are spotty in that > it's a bit of work here, then a bit of work there, and so on. Others > it's an ongoing relationship to evolve their needs. I have often taken > over a predecessor's mess and had clients tell me how it runs X times > faster since I've worked on it. Sometimes this is simply adding a > bytecode cache, sometimes this is optimizing table indexes, and > sometimes this is correcting serious problems in coding and application > design. > > > Do you have any frustrations with the PHP community, do you find you > > want to talk shop but can't, or find people to work with but can't, have > > projects in mind you want to do but can't find people to do them with etc? > > For the most part I love the PHP community, but admittedly I only > interface with a small portion of it (mostly via various mailing lists). > I don't currently have time for personal projects. Three kids and a full > plate of work makes my spare time a fleeting concept. > > > Do you network with other PHP'ers in real life - meetups etc, do you > > tend to shy away, or do you find you circulate in other web related but > > non PHP focussed communities? > > Not really. I'm primarily introverted (not a social pariah mind you), > and tend to find some quick web searching turns up answers to anything > for which I have questions. > > > Are you a member or any other web tech communities, opensource efforts, > > or standardization bodies - again, if so which? > > I follow several mailing lists PHP (obviously), MediaWiki, FCKeditor, > Mplayer, Joe. I follow others on a more ad-hoc basis such as MySQL, > Drupal, Joomla, WordPress, JQuery, Apache, FengOffice, etc. From time to > time when I need something if the package I'm using doesn't have what I > need I will crack it open and do what needs to be done. This can be any > language since they all pretty much have similar idioms and it doesn't > usually take long to start stabbing it into submission. Often I'll > submit a patch if I think the patch is of any use to anyone else and is > reasonably competent looking :) What High School did you go to? What year? As far as I remember when I was in HS, nothing about computers was offered. this was back in '88. -- Blessings, David M.