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| Introduction |
While the success of Open Source software like Linux or Apache has been documented
extensively throughout all mainstream media, the rise of PHP has gone largely
unnoticed. Still, the Web scripting language PHP is the most popular module for the
Apache Web server, according to an E-Soft survey (www.e-softinc.com/survey/).
Netcraft studies have found that PHP is in use on over 6% of all Web domains in the
world (see www.netcraft.com/survey).That’s an incredible market penetration for a
rather specialized product.This popularity continues to rise exponentially. Increasingly,
this is being reflected in traditional media: As of May, 2000, more than 20 books about
PHP have been published in different languages, with more in the pipeline.
Commercial players are beginning to join the bandwagon: PHP is included with
Web servers, for example C2’s Stronghold, and Linux distributions. A new company,
Zend Technologies, has been formed to provide commercial add-ons and support for
PHP.A long list of large-scale Web sites employ PHP, as well as hundreds of thousands
of small to medium Web sites.
For the authors, this book began in June of 1999, when we were approached by
New Riders Publishing to write a book about advanced PHP.The idea of writing a
PHP book had been in our heads since some time prior, and the New Riders proposal
was very welcome.
About 1,500 emails, 500 CVS commits, and countless hours on IRC later, we’re
finally done. It was a bear of a job, but we think we succeeded in writing a book that’s
different from pure reference manuals.We have tried to explain the concepts of Web
application development, rather than giving you just a dry overview of PHP’s features.
The evolution from a novice programmer with no or little formal education to a
software development expert happens in different stages.The programmer begins the
career as an apprentice. At this time, the programmer usually doesn’t worry about
coding styles, planning, or testing—unreadable code, missing security, and long hacker
nights are typical for this stage.While the programmer may know all the tricks and
hidden features of a language, he or she will encounter difficulties in team development,
maintenance, and larger development projects. At this point, you can easily spot
those who will be expert developers later.They start to ask questions:
* How can I avoid implementing the same functionality over and over?
* What provisions do I have to put into effect to make my application secure and
stable?
* What does it take to make my application easier to maintain?
* How can multiple people work together efficiently on a team? |
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