On board the "Costa Mediterranea"

I could have walked past this stockily-built 36 year old of Scandinavian decent, polite, short-haired, short-trousered on this cruise ship and not notice him amongst the other 2000 guests. And, yes, he can and does circulate freely without challenge. Those few of us who know who he is respect his privacy, and the rest of the ship haven't heard of him.

Who is he? He's Rasmus Lerdorf, originator of the PHP programming language that powers much of this site, and still very much in charge of the language and its future.

When you have the opportunity to listen to him for a day as I did yesterday, you come to realise that it's no accident that PHP is the great language that it is - he's an excellent captain steering this Open Source ship, and he knows where he's headed and where he's not going too.

"I don't care" is a common saying of Rasmus's. But you have to hear him saying it to put it into context and to understand him. He's written PHP as a templating systems that's now a language for web content and he's done an excellent job. Keep it simple. Keep it easy to use. Keep it on target for the application for which it was designed. Enhance it to support new technologies within its area, but don't try to add and add features to meet everyone's requirements away from the Web and templating. If such features were to be added it would be slowed, obfuscated, harder to use and it would inflate like a balloon. Inflate a balloon enough, and it bursts.

So - if you're using PHP for exotic applications away from the Web, you'll find Rasmus saying "I don't care". You're very welcome to use it, he's not saying don't ... but you can't expect him to support enhancement requests you make. If you're using it (as we are here) for Web Applications, Rasmus has your application and your future as his mainstream design goal for the future. And the PHP ship has an excellent captain; I'm delighted to be on his vessel.



See also PHP Programming - course

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Keeping up to date
  [2940] Training course locations - Melksham, UK; Buxton, UK; Lake Constance, Germany; Venice Italy, the USA and India - (2010-08-30)
  [2564] Microblogging services - Plurk, Twitter, Jaiku and more - (2010-01-05)
  [2352] Printed Directories - the start of the updating season - (2009-08-12)
  [2078] A lot has changed - but the memory lingers on - (2009-03-12)
  [2032] Mobile Internet - an alternative to hotel WiFi - (2009-02-09)
  [1488] New trainee laptop fleet for our Open Source courses - (2007-12-30)
  [396] The next technologies - (2005-07-29)
  [250] We dont stand still - (2005-03-18)
  [160] Review of the Autumn - (2004-12-22)
  [143] Network Camera - (2004-12-07)
  [86] Talk review - Idiomatic Perl, David Cross - (2004-10-12)
  [83] Geek Cruising - (2004-10-11)
  [82] Keeping up to date - (2004-10-10)

Introduction to PHP
  [2097] PHP Course - for hobby / club / charity users. - (2009-03-22)
  [1958] PHP - Parse error: syntax error, unexpected $end ... - (2008-12-23)
  [1753] Perl v PHP, choosing the right language - (2008-08-14)
  [1717] Q - Should I use Perl or Python? - (2008-07-23)
  [1198] From Web to Web 2 - (2007-05-21)
  [1050] The HTML++ Metalanguage - (2007-01-22)
  [949] Sludge off the mountain, and Python and PHP - (2006-11-27)
  [924] The LAMP Cookbook - Linux, Apache, MySQL, PHP / Perl - (2006-11-13)
  [917] Syntax checking in PHP - (2006-11-07)
  [846] Is Perl being replaced by PHP and Python? - (2006-08-27)
  [795] Remember a site's non-technical issues too - (2006-07-07)
  [789] Hot answers in PHP - (2006-07-02)
  [712] Why reinvent the wheel - (2006-05-06)
  [691] Testing you Perl / PHP / MySQL / Tcl knowledge - (2006-04-19)
  [646] PHP - London course, Melksham Course, Evening course - (2006-03-14)
  [629] Choosing the right language - (2006-03-01)
  [624] It's REALLY easy to add a little PHP - (2006-02-26)
  [577] Learning to program in Perl or PHP - (2006-01-26)
  [433] FTP - how to make the right transfers - (2005-09-01)
  [382] Central London Courses - Perl, PHP, Python, Tcl, MySQL - (2005-07-18)
  [380] Bridging to the customer requirement - (2005-07-16)
  [341] Happy Birthday, PHP - (2005-06-09)
  [317] Programming languages - a comparison - (2005-05-20)
  [135] Too many Perls - (2004-11-30)
  [132] Portrait of the author - (2004-11-27)
  [124] PHP v Java - (2004-11-20)
  [93] Case Sensitive? - (2004-10-19)
  [55] Evening classes to learn PHP - (2004-09-19)
  [48] PHP - onwards and upwards - (2004-09-14)

Designing PHP-Based Solutions: Best Practice
  [2679] How to build a test harness into your PHP - (2010-03-16)
  [2430] Not just a PHP program - a good web application - (2009-09-29)
  [2221] Adding a newsfeed for your users to a multipage PHP application - (2009-06-06)
  [2199] Improving the structure of your early PHP programs - (2009-05-25)
  [1794] Refactoring - a PHP demo becomes a production page - (2008-09-12)
  [1694] Defensive coding techniques in PHP? - (2008-07-02)
  [1623] PHP Techniques - a workshop - (2008-04-26)
  [1533] Short and sweet and sticky - PHP form input - (2008-02-06)
  [1490] Software to record day to day events and keep an action list - (2007-12-31)
  [1487] Efficient PHP applications - framework and example - (2007-12-28)
  [1482] A story about benchmarking PHP - (2007-12-23)
  [1391] Ordnance Survey Grid Reference to Latitude / Longitude - (2007-10-14)
  [1390] Converting from postal address to latitude / longitude - (2007-10-13)
  [1389] Controlling and labelling Google maps via PHP - (2007-10-13)
  [1381] Using a MySQL database to control mod_rewrite via PHP - (2007-10-06)
  [1323] Easy handling of errors in PHP - (2007-08-27)
  [1321] Resetting session based tests in PHP - (2007-08-26)
  [1194] Drawing hands on a clock face - PHP - (2007-05-19)
  [1182] Painting a masterpiece in PHP - (2007-05-10)
  [1181] Good Programming practise - where to initialise variables - (2007-05-09)
  [1166] Back button - ensuring order are not submitted twice (PHP) - (2007-04-28)
  [1052] Learning to write secure, maintainable PHP - (2007-01-25)
  [1047] Maintainable code - some positive advice - (2007-01-21)
  [945] Code quality counts - (2006-11-26)
  [936] Global, Superglobal, Session variables - scope and persistance in PHP - (2006-11-21)
  [896] PHP - good coding practise and sticky radio buttons - (2006-10-17)
  [839] Reporting on the 10 largest files or 10 top scores - (2006-08-20)
  [572] Giving the researcher power over database analysis - (2006-01-22)
  [563] Merging pictures using PHP and GD - (2006-01-13)
  [426] Robust checking of data entered by users - (2005-08-27)
  [394] A year on - should we offer certified PHP courses - (2005-07-28)
  [340] Code and code maintainance efficiency - (2005-06-08)
  [261] Putting a form online - (2005-03-29)
  [237] Crossfertilisation, PHP to Python - (2005-03-06)
  [123] Short underground journeys and a PHP book - (2004-11-19)

People
  [2886] Congratulations, Kimberly - (2010-07-25)
  [2846] Catching up with an old friend - (2010-07-01)
  [2795] Simon says - (2010-06-05)
  [2503] Melksham manslaughter case concludes - sort of - (2009-11-14)
  [2132] Learning about Lurchers - (2009-04-18)
  [2100] Visiting Family - (2009-03-23)
  [2078] A lot has changed - but the memory lingers on - (2009-03-12)
  [1988] Melksham, Wiltshire. Town Crier Competition, 2009 - (2009-01-11)
  [1980] Michelle - (2009-01-06)
  [1916] Why I remember East Grafton - (2008-12-02)
  [1627] Amazing family members - (2008-05-02)
  [1570] London Midland ... Merrymaker ... Percy Danks - (2008-03-10)
  [1522] Paging Martin Noke, who petitions for more trains from Trowbridge to Swindon - (2008-01-28)
  [1385] Delegates of all shapes and sizes - (2007-10-09)
  [1303] Heading Upstate New York - (2007-08-14)
  [1279] The Gdansk fireball - (2007-07-27)
  [1238] The kind spirit of Melksham - (2007-06-21)
  [1197] Back off home with our best wishes - (2007-05-21)
  [1151] Gordon Dodge, R.I.P. - (2007-04-16)
  [1119] The Last Word on the road - (2007-03-26)
  [1107] Weekend Visitors - (2007-03-13)
  [1065] Graham Ellis - an Introduction - (2007-02-05)
  [1064] Light and shadows at Beach - (2007-02-04)
  [820] Robert and William Whitworth - (2006-08-01)
  [794] Perl delegate - much more than just a delegate - (2006-07-06)
  [771] From cat breeder to Cobol to Perl - (2006-06-21)
  [763] Much more that the world cup - (2006-06-15)
  [704] Erin Brent - rest in peace - (2006-04-29)
  [650] A person of few words - (2006-03-18)
  [611] Look out for the motor cyclist - (2006-02-17)
  [601] A fond memory of Sir Freddie - (2006-02-11)
  [584] Loosing breath with Gerald - (2006-01-31)
  [543] The world didn't stop for Christmas - (2005-12-26)
  [530] Perl course during the week, getting married at the weekend - (2005-12-16)
  [423] A Victorian Lady - (2005-08-23)
  [392] No Smoking - (2005-07-27)
  [207] Canteen Dragon - (2005-02-09)

resource index - PHP
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At Well House Consultants, we provide training courses on subjects such as Ruby, Lua, Perl, Python, Linux, C, C++, Tcl/Tk, Tomcat, PHP and MySQL. We're asked (and answer) many questions, and answers to those which are of general interest are published in this area of our site.