php-horde-feed 2.0.1-4 / usr / share / php / tests / Horde_Feed / Horde / Feed / fixtures / lexicon / http-pixelated-dreams.com-feeds-index.rss2

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    <title>Davey Shafik's Pixelated Dreams</title>
    <link>http://pixelated-dreams.com/</link>
    <description>As close to my brain as you can safely get</description>
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<pubDate>Fri, 11 Jul 2008 11:54:04 GMT</pubDate>

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        <title>RSS: Davey Shafik's Pixelated Dreams - As close to my brain as you can safely get</title>
        <link>http://pixelated-dreams.com/</link>
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<item>
    <title>Progress</title>
    <link>http://pixelated-dreams.com/archives/265-Progress.html</link>
    
    <comments>http://pixelated-dreams.com/archives/265-Progress.html#comments</comments>
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    <author>davey@pixelated-dreams.com (Davey Shafik)</author>
    <content:encoded>
    &lt;p&gt;OK, so... exercising is &lt;strong&gt;hard&lt;/strong&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;For the first few rides on my new bike, I took it outside, eschewing my trainer for some asphalt... and also because the tires that came with the bike were simply too deeply treaded to use on the trainer.&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;I did about a mile each time, several revolutions round the few blocks around my house. The heat definitely takes it&#039;s toll very quickly.&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;Now i&#039;ve picked up some semi-slick tires, which have an (almost) smooth middle-section and tred on the outer edges so it can still be used outside. (Similar to &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.nashbar.com/profile.cfm?category=6000121&amp;amp;subcategory=60001249&amp;amp;brand=&amp;amp;sku=8742&amp;amp;storetype=&amp;amp;estoreid=&amp;amp;pagename=Shop%20by%20Subcat%3A%2026x1%2E0%20to%2026x1%2E75&quot; onclick=&quot;window.open(this.href, &#039;_blank&#039;); return false;&quot;&gt;this&lt;/a&gt;).&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;I&#039;m now cycling 2 miles each time (though admittedly, I should be doing it at least every other night, right now it&#039;s every 4 days or so). I think I&#039;ve finally got the trainer setup nicely, to where there is almost no friction on the lowest setting, and it&#039;s right at the top of my strength on the highest (5th) setting. I typically leave it at the 5th, because I find that it&#039;s not the strength required that makes it tiresome, it&#039;s the number of revolutions.&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;I&#039;m also looking at the &lt;a href=&quot;http://hundredpushups.com/&quot; onclick=&quot;window.open(this.href, &#039;_blank&#039;); return false;&quot;&gt;One Hundred Pushups Challenge&lt;/a&gt;, though my upper body strength is already good, and is mostly what I work out in the pool. I don&#039;t see pushups contributing much to weight loss (compared to say, swimming or cycling), it would just be cool to complete the challenge.&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;- Davey&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;P.S.&lt;br /&gt;
I hate changing tires/innertubes with a &lt;strong&gt;passion&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

 
    </content:encoded>

    <pubDate>Mon, 07 Jul 2008 02:42:10 -0500</pubDate>
    <guid isPermaLink="false">http://pixelated-dreams.com/archives/265-guid.html</guid>
    <category>cycling</category>
<category>exercise</category>
<category>personal</category>
<category>pushups</category>
<category>weight loss</category>

</item>
<item>
    <title>Moving to the Cloud</title>
    <link>http://pixelated-dreams.com/archives/264-Moving-to-the-Cloud.html</link>
            <category>PHP</category>
    
    <comments>http://pixelated-dreams.com/archives/264-Moving-to-the-Cloud.html#comments</comments>
    <wfw:comment>http://pixelated-dreams.com/wfwcomment.php?cid=264</wfw:comment>

    <slash:comments>3</slash:comments>
    <wfw:commentRss>http://pixelated-dreams.com/rss.php?version=2.0&amp;type=comments&amp;cid=264</wfw:commentRss>
    

    <author>davey@pixelated-dreams.com (Davey Shafik)</author>
    <content:encoded>
    &lt;p&gt;After lots of thinking, I&#039;ve decided that I&#039;m going to move all my sites to &lt;a href=&quot;http://mosso.com&quot; onclick=&quot;window.open(this.href, &#039;_blank&#039;); return false;&quot;&gt;Mosso cloud hosting&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;Frankly, it&#039;s just too much work to maintain my own systems, and Mosso is $30/month cheaper than my dedicated server. In addition, as things grow for me, I think Mosso will prove to be a much more scalable proposition; including being able to have them handle support and billing of my clients.&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;I moved &lt;a href=&quot;http://zceguide.com&quot; onclick=&quot;window.open(this.href, &#039;_blank&#039;); return false;&quot;&gt;the ZCE Guide&lt;/a&gt; site over there last night and it was just so easy, I figured, what the hell may as well do the big move and push over my blog.&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;I was able to use the mysql command line client to push a SQL dump directly from my current server to Mosso&#039;s server(s) and after a lengthy (30+MB) upload and a config tweak, it just worked. Very impressed with Mosso so far &lt;img src=&quot;http://pixelated-dreams.com/templates/default/img/emoticons/smile.png&quot; alt=&quot;:-)&quot; style=&quot;display: inline; vertical-align: bottom;&quot; class=&quot;emoticon&quot; /&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;Just need to find a way to combine all my mailboxes into one. It looks like forwarding might be the best option.&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;If you&#039;re seeing this post, then your DNS already updated and you&#039;re looking at the new site, yay for you!&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;- Davey&lt;/p&gt;

 
    </content:encoded>

    <pubDate>Thu, 03 Jul 2008 02:49:50 -0500</pubDate>
    <guid isPermaLink="false">http://pixelated-dreams.com/archives/264-guid.html</guid>
    <category>awesome</category>
<category>cloud hosting</category>
<category>easy</category>
<category>mosso</category>

</item>
<item>
    <title>Happy Birthday To Me!</title>
    <link>http://pixelated-dreams.com/archives/263-Happy-Birthday-To-Me!.html</link>
    
    <comments>http://pixelated-dreams.com/archives/263-Happy-Birthday-To-Me!.html#comments</comments>
    <wfw:comment>http://pixelated-dreams.com/wfwcomment.php?cid=263</wfw:comment>

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    <author>davey@pixelated-dreams.com (Davey Shafik)</author>
    <content:encoded>
    &lt;p&gt;Well, on May 31st, I&#039;m turning 24; going from early-twenties to mid-twenties. So. old. &lt;img src=&quot;http://pixelated-dreams.com/templates/default/img/emoticons/sad.png&quot; alt=&quot;:-(&quot; style=&quot;display: inline; vertical-align: bottom;&quot; class=&quot;emoticon&quot; /&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;To combat the aging, I&#039;ve bought myself an awesome birthday gift, well, several:&lt;/p&gt;


&lt;ul&gt;
    &lt;li&gt;A &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.giant-bicycles.com/en-US/bikes/mountain/1262/29304/&quot; onclick=&quot;window.open(this.href, &#039;_blank&#039;); return false;&quot;&gt;Giant Boulder SE 2008&lt;/a&gt; mountain bike (Aluminum frame, 21 gears/quickshift shimano, v-brakes, front suspension.)&lt;/li&gt;
    &lt;li&gt;A &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.nashbar.com/profile.cfm?category=6000123&amp;amp;subcategory=60001087&amp;amp;brand=&amp;amp;sku=18859&amp;amp;storetype=&amp;amp;estoreid=&amp;amp;pagename=Shop%20by%20Subcat%3A%20Trainers%20and%20Rollers&quot; onclick=&quot;window.open(this.href, &#039;_blank&#039;); return false;&quot;&gt;Nashbar Adjustable Fluid Trainer&lt;/a&gt; to allow me to use it inside during the heat of the summer/thunderstorms/hurricanes&lt;/li&gt;
    &lt;li&gt;A &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0016HCIB0&quot; onclick=&quot;window.open(this.href, &#039;_blank&#039;); return false;&quot;&gt;Polar F5 Heart Rate Monitor Watch&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;
    &lt;li&gt;A &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000AO9R8C&quot; onclick=&quot;window.open(this.href, &#039;_blank&#039;); return false;&quot;&gt;Planet Protégé Cyclocompter w/temperature monitor&lt;/a&gt; and &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000AO7JQ4&quot; onclick=&quot;window.open(this.href, &#039;_blank&#039;); return false;&quot;&gt;rear-wheel mounting kit&lt;/a&gt; (necessary with the trainer!)&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;/ul&gt;

&lt;p&gt;I also bought myself the first (?) four books in the Ender&#039;s Game series.&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;Why did I buy this particular set of equipment? First, I had a 1999-2000 Boulder Giant back in the UK, and I absolutely loved it for my school commute (~2miles/day) and for messing around on (ever seen a mountain bike on a half-pipe? yeah... did that).&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;Secondly, I was looking at exercise bikes, because I honestly didn&#039;t think I&#039;d be inclined to cycle out in the FL heat (~105F in the summer) but was unhappy that with an exercise bike I wouldn&#039;t be able to go out with it &lt;strong&gt;at all&lt;/strong&gt;. My co-worker mentioned I could get a trainer, and it seems to be the best of both worlds, though I&#039;m spending ~$600 instead of $350-400 with the separate cyclocomputer/HRM etc, I think being able to just unhook it and go out when I want to is worth it.&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;Also, many thanks to the folks on IRC, particularly Emma from #phpwomen for the advice over the last week &lt;img src=&quot;http://pixelated-dreams.com/templates/default/img/emoticons/smile.png&quot; alt=&quot;:-)&quot; style=&quot;display: inline; vertical-align: bottom;&quot; class=&quot;emoticon&quot; /&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;My goal (which I am stating publically in the hopes that it will motivate me to stick to it) is to be riding 10 miles/day by the end of the summer, and to lose at &lt;strong&gt;least&lt;/strong&gt; 60lbs, preferably 80lbs (though not necessarily by the end of the summer &lt;img src=&quot;http://pixelated-dreams.com/templates/default/img/emoticons/smile.png&quot; alt=&quot;:-)&quot; style=&quot;display: inline; vertical-align: bottom;&quot; class=&quot;emoticon&quot; /&gt;. In contrast, my personal best, is 330 miles over 5 weeks, when I was still in high-school, which averages to ~9.5miles/day.&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;- Davey&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;(pssst; &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.amazon.com/gp/registry/wishlist/28NB6QOZQ9QKP&quot; onclick=&quot;window.open(this.href, &#039;_blank&#039;); return false;&quot;&gt;my wishlist&lt;/a&gt; is publicly available. nudge nudge.)&lt;/p&gt;

 
    </content:encoded>

    <pubDate>Mon, 26 May 2008 04:07:10 -0500</pubDate>
    <guid isPermaLink="false">http://pixelated-dreams.com/archives/263-guid.html</guid>
    <category>birthday</category>
<category>buy me presents</category>
<category>cycling</category>
<category>health</category>

</item>
<item>
    <title>Blech</title>
    <link>http://pixelated-dreams.com/archives/262-Blech.html</link>
    
    <comments>http://pixelated-dreams.com/archives/262-Blech.html#comments</comments>
    <wfw:comment>http://pixelated-dreams.com/wfwcomment.php?cid=262</wfw:comment>

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    <author>davey@pixelated-dreams.com (Davey Shafik)</author>
    <content:encoded>
    &lt;p&gt;So, I&#039;m sorta back. I found an ancient backup of this site from October 2006. I also have a copy (thanks Helgi!) of anything that hit &lt;a href=&quot;http://planet-php.org&quot; onclick=&quot;window.open(this.href, &#039;_blank&#039;); return false;&quot;&gt;Planet PHP&lt;/a&gt;, so when I get some time I&#039;ll push that stuff back into the DB.&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;My other sites (zceguide.com, for example) will slowly but surely come back online as time goes by.&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;- Davey&lt;br /&gt;
P.S.&lt;br /&gt;
Hard drives suck. Royally.&lt;/p&gt;

 
    </content:encoded>

    <pubDate>Thu, 22 May 2008 06:27:04 -0500</pubDate>
    <guid isPermaLink="false">http://pixelated-dreams.com/archives/262-guid.html</guid>
    <category>don't forget your backups</category>
<category>php</category>
<category>server died</category>

</item>
<item>
    <title>ZCEGuide.com Deadline Fast Approaching</title>
    <link>http://pixelated-dreams.com/archives/261-ZCEGuide.com-Deadline-Fast-Approaching.html</link>
            <category>PHP</category>
            <category>Writing</category>
            <category>Zend Framework</category>
    
    <comments>http://pixelated-dreams.com/archives/261-ZCEGuide.com-Deadline-Fast-Approaching.html#comments</comments>
    <wfw:comment>http://pixelated-dreams.com/wfwcomment.php?cid=261</wfw:comment>

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    <author>davey@pixelated-dreams.com (Davey Shafik)</author>
    <content:encoded>
    &lt;p&gt;For those of you who want to participate in the &lt;a href=&quot;http://zceguide.com&quot; onclick=&quot;window.open(this.href, &#039;_blank&#039;); return false;&quot;&gt;ZCEGuide.com&lt;/a&gt; Zend Framework Proposal &lt;a href=&quot;http://zceguide.com#competition&quot; onclick=&quot;window.open(this.href, &#039;_blank&#039;); return false;&quot;&gt;competition&lt;/a&gt;, the deadline of October 31st is fast approaching.&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;So be sure to &lt;a href=&quot;mailto:entries@zceguide.com&quot; onclick=&quot;window.open(this.href, &#039;_blank&#039;); return false;&quot;&gt;enter&lt;/a&gt; today!&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;- Davey&lt;/p&gt;

 
    </content:encoded>

    <pubDate>Tue, 24 Oct 2006 01:36:37 -0500</pubDate>
    <guid isPermaLink="false">http://pixelated-dreams.com/archives/261-guid.html</guid>
    <category>competition</category>
<category>php</category>
<category>zend certification study guide</category>
<category>zend framework</category>

</item>
<item>
    <title>php|tek 2007 Announced</title>
    <link>http://pixelated-dreams.com/archives/259-phptek-2007-Announced.html</link>
            <category>PHP</category>
    
    <comments>http://pixelated-dreams.com/archives/259-phptek-2007-Announced.html#comments</comments>
    <wfw:comment>http://pixelated-dreams.com/wfwcomment.php?cid=259</wfw:comment>

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    <author>davey@pixelated-dreams.com (Davey Shafik)</author>
    <content:encoded>
    &lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://phparch.com&quot; onclick=&quot;window.open(this.href, &#039;_blank&#039;); return false;&quot;&gt;php|architect&lt;/a&gt; has announced the &lt;a href=&quot;http://phparch.com/tek&quot; onclick=&quot;window.open(this.href, &#039;_blank&#039;); return false;&quot;&gt;php|tek 2007 conference&lt;/a&gt; which will be held in Chicago, May 16th-18th, 2007. php|architect conferences, if you have never been, are an absolute blast. I went to php|works in Toronto in &#039;05, and php|tek in Orlando this past April, and the people and the facilities, and of course the talks and the beer are first rate &lt;img src=&quot;http://pixelated-dreams.com/templates/default/img/emoticons/smile.png&quot; alt=&quot;:-)&quot; style=&quot;display: inline; vertical-align: bottom;&quot; class=&quot;emoticon&quot; /&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;If, like me, you haven&#039;t been to Chicago, you might be wondering &amp;quot;WTH is in Chicago?!&amp;quot;, well, it is the third largest city in the US (population) and apparently has a wonderful selection of Museums, a great Zoo, and the the highest density of &amp;quot;Frank Lloyd Wright&amp;quot; homes in the US. On top of that, its on Lake Michigan, and is accessible via the second most busy airport in the US, &amp;quot;Chicago O&#039;Hare Airport&amp;quot;, so you can probably get a direct flight from most anywhere in North America (2.5hrs from Tampa -&amp;gt; Chicago, $193/per adult; American Airlines @ &lt;a href=&quot;http://expedia.com&quot; onclick=&quot;window.open(this.href, &#039;_blank&#039;); return false;&quot;&gt;expedia.com&lt;/a&gt;).&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;I will be submitting papers, and hopefully be presenting there, if not I will most likely go just to hang out anyhow &lt;img src=&quot;http://pixelated-dreams.com/templates/default/img/emoticons/smile.png&quot; alt=&quot;:-)&quot; style=&quot;display: inline; vertical-align: bottom;&quot; class=&quot;emoticon&quot; /&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;- Davey&lt;/p&gt;

 
    </content:encoded>

    <pubDate>Sun, 22 Oct 2006 23:10:08 -0500</pubDate>
    <guid isPermaLink="false">http://pixelated-dreams.com/archives/259-guid.html</guid>
    <category>beer</category>
<category>chicago</category>
<category>conference</category>
<category>php|architect</category>
<category>php|tek 2007</category>

</item>
<item>
    <title>Why Don't I blog much anymore?</title>
    <link>http://pixelated-dreams.com/archives/258-Why-Dont-I-blog-much-anymore.html</link>
            <category>General</category>
    
    <comments>http://pixelated-dreams.com/archives/258-Why-Dont-I-blog-much-anymore.html#comments</comments>
    <wfw:comment>http://pixelated-dreams.com/wfwcomment.php?cid=258</wfw:comment>

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    <author>davey@pixelated-dreams.com (Davey Shafik)</author>
    <content:encoded>
    &lt;p&gt;I know some people think I&#039;ve forgotten my blog, but nothing could be further from the truth. There is however, a good reason I don&#039;t blog so much anymore, let me try to explain:&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;I don&#039;t have good stuff to blog about. Since the inception of my blog, I&#039;ve tried to blog good stuff, that is, stuff that explains something new I came across, that I think a lot of people don&#039;t know (those &amp;quot;Ah-hah!&amp;quot; moments), or stuff that teaches people stuff I take for granted. For the last few months, I have been so busy at work, working on a new minor (major.minor.micro) version, with some very complex new features. But whilst the features are complex, they isn&#039;t anything  ground-breaking (though the UI is awesome), so nothing to blog there. On top of that, the only project I was working on outside of work, was &lt;a href=&quot;http://zceguide.com&quot; onclick=&quot;window.open(this.href, &#039;_blank&#039;); return false;&quot;&gt;my book&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;Now I am working on Web Services for the Zend Framework, but its so simple to use, there&#039;s only so much to blog there &lt;img src=&quot;http://pixelated-dreams.com/templates/default/img/emoticons/smile.png&quot; alt=&quot;:-)&quot; style=&quot;display: inline; vertical-align: bottom;&quot; class=&quot;emoticon&quot; /&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;So thats why I&#039;m not blogging so much anymore. There are however several projects on the horizon, that should be very interesting, so I will be blogging more - just bear with me. &lt;img src=&quot;http://pixelated-dreams.com/templates/default/img/emoticons/smile.png&quot; alt=&quot;:-)&quot; style=&quot;display: inline; vertical-align: bottom;&quot; class=&quot;emoticon&quot; /&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;- Davey&lt;/p&gt;

 
    </content:encoded>

    <pubDate>Sat, 21 Oct 2006 19:06:05 -0500</pubDate>
    <guid isPermaLink="false">http://pixelated-dreams.com/archives/258-guid.html</guid>
    
</item>
<item>
    <title>Announcement: Zend PHP 5 Certification Study Guide</title>
    <link>http://pixelated-dreams.com/archives/253-Announcement-Zend-PHP-5-Certification-Study-Guide.html</link>
            <category>PHP</category>
            <category>Writing</category>
    
    <comments>http://pixelated-dreams.com/archives/253-Announcement-Zend-PHP-5-Certification-Study-Guide.html#comments</comments>
    <wfw:comment>http://pixelated-dreams.com/wfwcomment.php?cid=253</wfw:comment>

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    <author>davey@pixelated-dreams.com (Davey Shafik)</author>
    <content:encoded>
    &lt;p&gt;I am very proud and delighted to be able to tell you all that &lt;a href=&quot;http://phparch.com&quot; onclick=&quot;window.open(this.href, &#039;_blank&#039;); return false;&quot;&gt;php|architect&lt;/a&gt; has now released the &amp;quot;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.phparch.com/shop_product.php?itemid=135&quot; onclick=&quot;window.open(this.href, &#039;_blank&#039;); return false;&quot;&gt;php|architect&#039;s Zend PHP 5 Certification Study Guide&lt;/a&gt;&amp;quot;.&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;The reason I am so truly happy about this, is because, I, with help from Ben Ramsey, wrote the book. This is the reason behind my recent absence. It has been an excellent opportunity for me, and though it was hard work, it was still a lot of fun.&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;&lt;p style=&#039;text-align: center;&#039;&gt;&lt;a href=&#039;http://www.phparch.com/shop_product.php?itemid=135&#039;&gt;&lt;img src=&#039;http://zceguide.com/images/book_ie.png&#039; title=&#039;Buy the Zend PHP 5 Certification Study Guide Now!&#039; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;But, this isn&#039;t all, to accompany the book, I have also released &lt;a href=&quot;http://zceguide.com&quot; onclick=&quot;window.open(this.href, &#039;_blank&#039;); return false;&quot;&gt;ZCEGuide.com&lt;/a&gt;, the official book site. The best thing about this, as far as you&#039;re concerned, is that we are holding a competition to win, not just a copy of the book but a whole host of other prizes. We have 1 copy of Zend Studio Professional, 1 signed copy of the book, 2 exam vouchers (which entitles two people to take the exam once at no cost!), and 3 1 year subscriptions to &lt;a href=&quot;http://phparch.com&quot; onclick=&quot;window.open(this.href, &#039;_blank&#039;); return false;&quot;&gt;php|architect&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;All you have to do, is participate in the &lt;a href=&quot;http://framework.zend.com&quot; onclick=&quot;window.open(this.href, &#039;_blank&#039;); return false;&quot;&gt;Zend Framework&lt;/a&gt;. In particular, new idea proposals. Our panel of judges will evaluate all of the proposals submitted and will pick 3 winners who will share the loot mentioned above.&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;For more information on the book, the authors, a sample chapter and of course, the competition, head to &lt;a href=&quot;http://zceguide.com&quot; onclick=&quot;window.open(this.href, &#039;_blank&#039;); return false;&quot;&gt;ZCEGuide.com&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;And don&#039;t forget, &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.phparch.com/shop_product.php?itemid=135&quot; onclick=&quot;window.open(this.href, &#039;_blank&#039;); return false;&quot;&gt;buy the book!&lt;/a&gt; - if you win, I&#039;ll pay you back for it - can&#039;t get fairer than that! &lt;img src=&quot;http://pixelated-dreams.com/templates/default/img/emoticons/laugh.png&quot; alt=&quot;:-D&quot; style=&quot;display: inline; vertical-align: bottom;&quot; class=&quot;emoticon&quot; /&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;- Davey&lt;/p&gt;

 
    </content:encoded>

    <pubDate>Thu, 05 Oct 2006 20:42:00 -0500</pubDate>
    <guid isPermaLink="false">http://pixelated-dreams.com/archives/253-guid.html</guid>
    <category>certification</category>
<category>guide</category>
<category>php</category>
<category>prizes</category>
<category>study guide</category>
<category>zceguide</category>
<category>zend</category>
<category>zend php 5 certification</category>

</item>
<item>
    <title>More Web Services</title>
    <link>http://pixelated-dreams.com/archives/251-More-Web-Services.html</link>
            <category>PHP</category>
            <category>Zend Framework</category>
    
    <comments>http://pixelated-dreams.com/archives/251-More-Web-Services.html#comments</comments>
    <wfw:comment>http://pixelated-dreams.com/wfwcomment.php?cid=251</wfw:comment>

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    <author>davey@pixelated-dreams.com (Davey Shafik)</author>
    <content:encoded>
    &lt;p&gt;I have been working closely with &lt;a href=&quot;http://weierophinney.net/matthew/&quot; onclick=&quot;window.open(this.href, &#039;_blank&#039;); return false;&quot;&gt;Matthew Weier O&#039;Phinney&lt;/a&gt; for the last week on bringing my &lt;a href=&quot;http://framework.zend.com/wiki/display/ZFPROP/Zend_Service_Server+Proposal+-+Davey+Shafik&quot; onclick=&quot;window.open(this.href, &#039;_blank&#039;); return false;&quot;&gt;Zend_Service_Server&lt;/a&gt; proposal to fruition.&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;There have been several changes, but the core has not moved too far. Matthew, Andi and I have decided that we will first implement the different server/client libraries, that is:&lt;/p&gt;


&lt;ul&gt;
    &lt;li&gt;Zend_Rest_Server and Zend_Rest_Client&lt;/li&gt;
    &lt;li&gt;Zend_XmlRpc_Server and Zend_XmlRpc_Client (already released)&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;/ul&gt;

&lt;p&gt;In addition to this, there will be a major WSDL supplement for the SOAP extension, this includes:&lt;/p&gt;


&lt;ul&gt;
    &lt;li&gt;Zend_Soap_Wsdl - Generic WSDL creation, manual calls to create a custom WSDL&lt;/li&gt;
    &lt;li&gt;Zend_Soap_Wsdl_Parser - WSDL Parser&lt;/li&gt;
    &lt;li&gt;Zend_Soap_Wsdl_CodeGenerator (name pending) - WSDL -&amp;gt; PHP Code Skeleton&lt;/li&gt;
    &lt;li&gt;Zend_Soap_AutoDiscover - Following the same API as the servers above, this will allow you to automatically generate WSDL from a PHP class or functions.&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;/ul&gt;

&lt;p&gt;The core to all of these is found under Zend_Server, these are:&lt;/p&gt;


&lt;ul&gt;
    &lt;li&gt;Zend_Server_Reflection - PHP Class and Function Reflection, including docblock parses and the ability to serialize for caching&lt;/li&gt;
    &lt;li&gt;Zend_Server_Interface - Make a compatible Server of your own&lt;/li&gt;
    &lt;li&gt;Zend_Server_Abstract - Some stuff you&#039;ll almost always need in a server&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;/ul&gt;

&lt;p&gt;Furthermore, as an exercise today I spent an entire 20 minutes implementing &lt;tt&gt;Zend_Json_Server&lt;/tt&gt; which works in the same way, register any normal class or functions and any responses will be returned as JSON. What this means is it is now super easy to deploy and utilize Server to Server SOAP/XML-RPC/REST services, and also Client to Server JSON or REST services - all with very little work. Code Re-use is definitely utilized to the maximum here.&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;We are still working out the finalities with &lt;tt&gt;Zend_Server_Reflection&lt;/tt&gt; and also the &lt;tt&gt;Zend_Service_Server&lt;/tt&gt; replacement, that is the unified API that will automatically dispatch to any of these services.&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;The final part of this will be the automated HTML documentation, based on the reflection. This will be optional to expose (defaults to on), but a great way to simply code and forget. Documentation is probably the single most important part of an external API - if nobody knows how to use it, well, then it&#039;s just pointless.&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;This is very exciting for me, I hope others will see this a major step forward for &amp;quot;Enterprise&amp;quot; solutions.&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;- Davey&lt;/p&gt;

 
    </content:encoded>

    <pubDate>Mon, 02 Oct 2006 01:09:00 -0500</pubDate>
    <guid isPermaLink="false">http://pixelated-dreams.com/archives/251-guid.html</guid>
    <category>json</category>
<category>php</category>
<category>rest</category>
<category>web services</category>
<category>zend framework</category>

</item>
<item>
    <title>A Note To Rob Levin...</title>
    <link>http://pixelated-dreams.com/archives/249-A-Note-To-Rob-Levin....html</link>
    
    <comments>http://pixelated-dreams.com/archives/249-A-Note-To-Rob-Levin....html#comments</comments>
    <wfw:comment>http://pixelated-dreams.com/wfwcomment.php?cid=249</wfw:comment>

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    <author>davey@pixelated-dreams.com (Davey Shafik)</author>
    <content:encoded>
    &lt;p&gt;Most people will know you as Lilo, founder of Freenode IRC and PDPC. I knew you as a friend. We spent not enough nights talking over too many subjects, including open source and life philosophy, business practices and general BS.&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;I just wanted to let you know how much your actions have effected my life to date.&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;In 1997, before it was called Freenode, and before I knew what Open Source was, I found myself wanting to learn PHP, and stumbled into the (then) #PHP channel. This was a fortuitous choice, as it has allowed me to grow in ways far beyond the simple programming I have learned.&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;Through the relationships I have made there, I have been shaped as a person. From the quirky, off-beat humor to the sub-gutter strata that my brain resides in, to the quick thinking and alternative analytical mind, #PHP has been a major factor.&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;Because of the knowledge I have gained on Freenode, and no doubt the personality traits I mentioned above, I have in recent years fulfilled many life-long goals. I met and married my wonderful wife, moved to Florida, inherited too many (really, is that possible?!) cats and have the things I want in life. To top that off, I have a first class job, using those exact same skills on a daily basis.&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;None of that would have been possible without you, and your ideas, your attitude and inability to give up - even when the whole world seemed against you.&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;I know your family, the community and I will miss you for a long time to come; now all we can do is try to remember what you have given us and try to use that to further your ideas, for the better of the community.&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;R.I.P.&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;- Davey&lt;/p&gt;

 
    </content:encoded>

    <pubDate>Tue, 26 Sep 2006 22:31:12 -0500</pubDate>
    <guid isPermaLink="false">http://pixelated-dreams.com/archives/249-guid.html</guid>
    
</item>
<item>
    <title>Next Generation REST Web Services Client</title>
    <link>http://pixelated-dreams.com/archives/243-Next-Generation-REST-Web-Services-Client.html</link>
            <category>PHP</category>
            <category>Zend Framework</category>
    
    <comments>http://pixelated-dreams.com/archives/243-Next-Generation-REST-Web-Services-Client.html#comments</comments>
    <wfw:comment>http://pixelated-dreams.com/wfwcomment.php?cid=243</wfw:comment>

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    <author>davey@pixelated-dreams.com (Davey Shafik)</author>
    <content:encoded>
    &lt;p&gt;I am currently working on a ton of Web Services related things for the Zend Framework, one of my favorite, is the almost complete, Zend_Rest_Client. This is a replacement for Zend_Rest (as we&#039;re adding a server also).&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;Whilst it is almost impossible to emulate the PHP 5 SOAP extension, it is still possible to get a nice interface.&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;I could have made it so that if you call a method, other than the get/post/put/delete methods it would query a Zend REST server correctly, however I wanted to do something nice that was applicable to all REST web services. So I have come up with a client that allows the following three calls:&lt;/p&gt;


&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;color: #000000&quot;&gt;
&lt;span style=&quot;color: #0000BB&quot;&gt;&amp;lt;?php
$client &lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;color: #007700&quot;&gt;= new &lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;color: #0000BB&quot;&gt;Zend_Rest_Client&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;color: #007700&quot;&gt;(&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;color: #DD0000&quot;&gt;&#039;http://.../service.php&#039;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;color: #007700&quot;&gt;);
echo &lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;color: #0000BB&quot;&gt;$client&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;color: #007700&quot;&gt;-&amp;gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;color: #0000BB&quot;&gt;sayHello&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;color: #007700&quot;&gt;(&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;color: #DD0000&quot;&gt;&#039;Davey&#039;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;color: #007700&quot;&gt;, &lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;color: #DD0000&quot;&gt;&#039;Day&#039;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;color: #007700&quot;&gt;)-&amp;gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;color: #0000BB&quot;&gt;get&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;color: #007700&quot;&gt;();
&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;color: #0000BB&quot;&gt;?&amp;gt;&lt;/span&gt;
&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;

&lt;p&gt;This first one connects to a Zend_Rest_Server, and it therefore knows the format of the response and returns a string (in this case, it can also return arrays) directly from the get() call. The entire function will send the request:&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;&lt;tt&gt;http://..../service.php?method=sayHello&amp;arg1=Davey&amp;arg2=Day&lt;/tt&gt; which the Zend_Rest_Server will translate to the &lt;tt&gt;TestClass::sayHello($who, $when);&lt;/tt&gt; call (though it&#039;s not a static call). TestClass is the class registered with the server - just like &lt;tt&gt;ext/soap&lt;/tt&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;Furthermore, there is a &amp;quot;fluent&amp;quot; API, for regular REST services:&lt;/p&gt;


&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;color: #000000&quot;&gt;
&lt;span style=&quot;color: #0000BB&quot;&gt;&amp;lt;?php
$client &lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;color: #007700&quot;&gt;= new &lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;color: #0000BB&quot;&gt;Zend_Rest_Client&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;color: #007700&quot;&gt;(&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;color: #DD0000&quot;&gt;&#039;http://api.flickr.com/services/rest/&#039;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;color: #007700&quot;&gt;);
echo &lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;color: #0000BB&quot;&gt;$client&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;color: #007700&quot;&gt;-&amp;gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;color: #0000BB&quot;&gt;method&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;color: #007700&quot;&gt;(&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;color: #DD0000&quot;&gt;&#039;flickr.test.echo&#039;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;color: #007700&quot;&gt;)-&amp;gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;color: #0000BB&quot;&gt;name&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;color: #007700&quot;&gt;(&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;color: #DD0000&quot;&gt;&#039;Davey Shafik&#039;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;color: #007700&quot;&gt;)-&amp;gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;color: #0000BB&quot;&gt;api_key&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;color: #007700&quot;&gt;(&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;color: #0000BB&quot;&gt;$flickr_key&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;color: #007700&quot;&gt;)-&amp;gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;color: #0000BB&quot;&gt;get&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;color: #007700&quot;&gt;()-&amp;gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;color: #0000BB&quot;&gt;name&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;color: #007700&quot;&gt;;
&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;color: #0000BB&quot;&gt;?&amp;gt;&lt;/span&gt;
&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;

&lt;p&gt;This time, we need to access the &lt;tt&gt;name&lt;/tt&gt; property on the return value for &lt;tt&gt;get()&lt;/tt&gt;, this is because we don&#039;t know the format of the response (it&#039;s a call to the Flickr REST service), but you do. If there is only one node called &lt;tt&gt;name&lt;/tt&gt; in the XML, we return it as a string (it&#039;s overloaded), otherwise, you will get a SimpleXMLElement array (more on this after the next example); or null for nothing found.&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;This time, it calls &lt;tt&gt;http://api.flickr.com/services/rest/?method=flickr.test.echo&amp;name=Davey%20Shafik&amp;api_key={api key}&lt;/tt&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;The final look for a call, is just calling things normally, no fluentness:&lt;/p&gt;


&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;color: #000000&quot;&gt;
&lt;span style=&quot;color: #0000BB&quot;&gt;&amp;lt;?php
$technorati &lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;color: #007700&quot;&gt;= new &lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;color: #0000BB&quot;&gt;Zend_Rest_Client&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;color: #007700&quot;&gt;(&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;color: #DD0000&quot;&gt;&#039;http://api.technorati.com/bloginfo&#039;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;color: #007700&quot;&gt;);
&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;color: #0000BB&quot;&gt;$technorati&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;color: #007700&quot;&gt;-&amp;gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;color: #0000BB&quot;&gt;key&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;color: #007700&quot;&gt;(&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;color: #0000BB&quot;&gt;$key&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;color: #007700&quot;&gt;);
&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;color: #0000BB&quot;&gt;$technorati&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;color: #007700&quot;&gt;-&amp;gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;color: #0000BB&quot;&gt;url&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;color: #007700&quot;&gt;(&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;color: #DD0000&quot;&gt;&#039;http://pixelated-dreams.com&#039;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;color: #007700&quot;&gt;);
&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;color: #0000BB&quot;&gt;$result &lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;color: #007700&quot;&gt;= &lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;color: #0000BB&quot;&gt;$technorati&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;color: #007700&quot;&gt;-&amp;gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;color: #0000BB&quot;&gt;get&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;color: #007700&quot;&gt;();
echo &lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;color: #0000BB&quot;&gt;$result&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;color: #007700&quot;&gt;-&amp;gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;color: #0000BB&quot;&gt;firstname &lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;color: #007700&quot;&gt;.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;color: #DD0000&quot;&gt;&#039; &#039;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;color: #007700&quot;&gt;. &lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;color: #0000BB&quot;&gt;$result&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;color: #007700&quot;&gt;-&amp;gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;color: #0000BB&quot;&gt;lastname&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;color: #007700&quot;&gt;;
&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;color: #0000BB&quot;&gt;?&amp;gt;&lt;/span&gt;
&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;

&lt;p&gt;Here it calls &lt;tt&gt;http://api.technorati.com/bloginfo?key={key}&amp;url=http%3A%2F%2Fpixelated-dreams.com&lt;/tt&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;In this example, we call directly on &lt;tt&gt;$result-&amp;gt;firstname&lt;/tt&gt; and &lt;tt&gt;$result-&amp;gt;lastname&lt;/tt&gt; - these don&#039;t exist in the root node of the XML returned, but to make things easier, if it is not found, an XPath for (in these cases) &lt;tt&gt;&lt;em&gt;firstname&lt;/tt&gt; and &lt;tt&gt;&lt;/em&gt;lastname&lt;/tt&gt; is called respectively. Again a string (shown here) or a SimpleXMLElement array is returned for multiple elements. These calls actually get the &lt;br /&gt;
&lt;tt&gt;document-&amp;gt;result-&amp;gt;weblog-&amp;gt;author-&amp;gt;firstname&lt;/tt&gt; and &lt;tt&gt;document-&amp;gt;result-&amp;gt;weblog-&amp;gt;author-&amp;gt;lastname&lt;/tt&gt; elements.&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;Whilst this could cause some problems (where same-named nodes are in different portions of the resulting XML and you want a specific one), you can still always access the elements as if the result was a SimpleXMLElement root node directly - this is simply a convenience that obviously pays off in this example.&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;The only outstanding item I have left is to recursively turn Zend_Rest_Server array responses into real arrays, this will stop you needed to (string) the nodes to use them. I think I will accomplish this using a wrapper object that implements &lt;tt&gt;ArrayAccess&lt;/tt&gt; - this ensures the same result API those services that do use Zend_Rest_Server and those that don&#039;t, whilst allowing OO access to the resulting values.&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;- Davey&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;P.S.&lt;br /&gt;
Eat My Shorts RoR &lt;img src=&quot;http://pixelated-dreams.com/templates/default/img/emoticons/tongue.png&quot; alt=&quot;:-P&quot; style=&quot;display: inline; vertical-align: bottom;&quot; class=&quot;emoticon&quot; /&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

 
    </content:encoded>

    <pubDate>Fri, 22 Sep 2006 00:49:00 -0500</pubDate>
    <guid isPermaLink="false">http://pixelated-dreams.com/archives/243-guid.html</guid>
    <category>php</category>
<category>rest</category>
<category>web services</category>
<category>zend framework</category>

</item>
<item>
    <title>Zend PHP 5 Certified</title>
    <link>http://pixelated-dreams.com/archives/240-Zend-PHP-5-Certified.html</link>
            <category>PHP</category>
    
    <comments>http://pixelated-dreams.com/archives/240-Zend-PHP-5-Certified.html#comments</comments>
    <wfw:comment>http://pixelated-dreams.com/wfwcomment.php?cid=240</wfw:comment>

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    <author>davey@pixelated-dreams.com (Davey Shafik)</author>
    <content:encoded>
    &lt;p&gt;As of today, I am now officially Zend PHP 5 Certified. Yay!&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;I took the beta exam, and it was excellent. Vastly superior to the PHP 4 exam, covering a much wider breadth of topics with much better questions (less syntax error stuff).&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;I think in all, the PHP 5 exam fixes all the things people bitched about with the PHP 4 exam. And lets face it, the logo is cooler:&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;&lt;!--s9ymdb:60--&gt;&lt;img width=&#039;110&#039; height=&#039;60&#039; style=&quot;border: 0px; padding-left: 5px; padding-right: 5px;&quot; src=&quot;http://pixelated-dreams.com/uploads/images/zce5.serendipityThumb.gif&quot; alt=&quot;&quot; /&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;- Davey&lt;/p&gt;

 
    </content:encoded>

    <pubDate>Wed, 13 Sep 2006 01:46:00 -0500</pubDate>
    <guid isPermaLink="false">http://pixelated-dreams.com/archives/240-guid.html</guid>
    <category>php</category>
<category>php 5</category>
<category>zend</category>
<category>zend certified</category>
<category>zend php 5 certification</category>
<category>zend php 5 certified</category>

</item>
<item>
    <title>Current Reading</title>
    <link>http://pixelated-dreams.com/archives/239-Current-Reading.html</link>
            <category>Geeky</category>
            <category>PHP</category>
    
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    <author>davey@pixelated-dreams.com (Davey Shafik)</author>
    <content:encoded>
    &lt;p&gt;Following on from &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.khankennels.com/blog/index.php/archives/2006/08/30/reading-tech-books/&quot; onclick=&quot;window.open(this.href, &#039;_blank&#039;); return false;&quot;&gt;Ligaya&lt;/a&gt; and &lt;a href=&quot;http://blog.phpdeveloper.org/?p=41&quot; onclick=&quot;window.open(this.href, &#039;_blank&#039;); return false;&quot;&gt;Enygma&lt;/a&gt;, I thought I would list what I&#039;m reading:&lt;/p&gt;


&lt;ul&gt;
    &lt;li&gt;Office 2003 XML (O&#039;Reilly)&lt;/li&gt;
    &lt;li&gt;Extending and Embedding PHP (Sara Golemon, SAMS Publishing)&lt;/li&gt;
    &lt;li&gt;Beginning PDF Programming with PHP and PDFlib (Ron Goff, php|architect !NanoBook Series)&lt;/li&gt;
    &lt;li&gt;!MySQL Crash Course (Ben Forta, SAMS Publishing)&lt;/li&gt;
    &lt;li&gt;Professional PHP-GTK (Scott Mattocks, Apress, second-readthrough)&lt;/li&gt;
    &lt;li&gt;High Performance !MySQL (O&#039;Reilly)&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;/ul&gt;

&lt;p&gt;As for fiction books, I am currently reading:&lt;/p&gt;


&lt;ul&gt;
    &lt;li&gt;There Will Be Dragons (John Ringo, &lt;strong&gt;excellent&lt;/strong&gt; book)&lt;/li&gt;
    &lt;li&gt;A Fire Upon The Deep (Vernor Vinge, also excellent)&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;/ul&gt;

&lt;p&gt;I&#039;ll have these all read within about a month &lt;img src=&quot;http://pixelated-dreams.com/templates/default/img/emoticons/smile.png&quot; alt=&quot;:-)&quot; style=&quot;display: inline; vertical-align: bottom;&quot; class=&quot;emoticon&quot; /&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;as well as ongoing:&lt;/p&gt;


&lt;ul&gt;
    &lt;li&gt;Sword of Truth (just finished #10)&lt;/li&gt;
    &lt;li&gt;Wheel of Time (just finished #11)&lt;/li&gt;
    &lt;li&gt;Harry Potter (recently read #6)&lt;/li&gt;
    &lt;li&gt;Discworld (read about 8 of them)&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;/ul&gt;

&lt;p&gt;- Davey&lt;/p&gt;

 
    </content:encoded>

    <pubDate>Wed, 30 Aug 2006 13:04:00 -0500</pubDate>
    <guid isPermaLink="false">http://pixelated-dreams.com/archives/239-guid.html</guid>
    <category>books</category>
<category>gtk</category>
<category>mysql</category>
<category>office</category>
<category>pdf</category>
<category>php</category>
<category>xml</category>

</item>
<item>
    <title>Corporations Beware!</title>
    <link>http://pixelated-dreams.com/archives/238-Corporations-Beware!.html</link>
            <category>General</category>
    
    <comments>http://pixelated-dreams.com/archives/238-Corporations-Beware!.html#comments</comments>
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    <author>davey@pixelated-dreams.com (Davey Shafik)</author>
    <content:encoded>
    &lt;p&gt;Whilst talking to my boss today, I had somewhat of an epiphany. I&#039;m not sure how many of you are aware about &lt;a href=&quot;http://arstechnica.com/journals/apple.ars/2006/8/21/5055&quot; onclick=&quot;window.open(this.href, &#039;_blank&#039;); return false;&quot;&gt;the Dublin man shaming Apple by walking 150 miles to get his iMac repaired quicker than Apple could respond&lt;/a&gt;. Well, if you do know, you probably also know that Apple PR caught wind of the stunt and he had a new iMac in 90 minutes to his door (and if you didn&#039;t, you do now).&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;I have for some time disparaged about the current state of customer service at most businesses (large and small) these days. From having KFC mess up my order consistently, and refusing to right it, to Sears Kitchens messing us around for over a month just to have them come out and measure so we could get our kitchen work started. The one large exception we&#039;ve found to this trend, is Outback Steakhouse. We regularly visit 3 different Outbacks in our local area (some 70 miles between them) and consistently have wonderful service and food - this is why it is our favorite restaurant.&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;Where is this all leading you might ask? Well, ask no more, here is the answer: It is my belief that as more and more &amp;quot;regular&amp;quot; people become connected to the &#039;net, and more and more get blogs, myspace pages, youtube accounts etc. suddenly, that one irate customer in the middle of nowhere who you used to be able to ignore, is suddenly able to get his message of anger out to the entire world.&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;Suddenly, that one person doesn&#039;t just affect one local restaurant, or one town, he can affect trade for the entire chain, throughout the world. Imagine how many people, in how many countries have been put off buying Apple hardware (or at the least, had their current opinions reaffirmed) by one guy on a small island off the coast of a slightly larger island.&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;Companies need to shape up, and remember, that the customer &lt;em&gt;is&lt;/em&gt; always right. I never demand more than I think is fair, and most of the time, all I want is an apology, acceptance of the screw-up and anything else is a bonus. We have come so far from this ideology, that customer service people (be it a waiter, a dedicated customer services rep on the phone, or the president of the company, any company-client communication is customer service) are not only not acquiescent, but worse, they&#039;re aggressive and surly. Good luck getting my repeat business.&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;- Davey&lt;/p&gt;

 
    </content:encoded>

    <pubDate>Sat, 26 Aug 2006 01:56:26 -0500</pubDate>
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</item>
<item>
    <title>Mini-Review: Pro PHP-GTK</title>
    <link>http://pixelated-dreams.com/archives/237-Mini-Review-Pro-PHP-GTK.html</link>
            <category>PHP</category>
            <category>Reviews</category>
    
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    <author>davey@pixelated-dreams.com (Davey Shafik)</author>
    <content:encoded>
    &lt;p&gt;Several weeks ago I recieved a copy of &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/redirect?link_code=as2&amp;amp;path=ASIN/1590596137&amp;amp;tag=pixelateddrea-20&amp;amp;camp=1789&amp;amp;creative=9325&quot; onclick=&quot;window.open(this.href, &#039;_blank&#039;); return false;&quot;&gt;Pro PHP GTK&lt;/a&gt; by &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.crisscott.com/&quot; onclick=&quot;window.open(this.href, &#039;_blank&#039;); return false;&quot;&gt;Scott Mattocks&lt;/a&gt; in the mail. The first surprise, upon opening the package, is that the book is a hardback - a first for me (at least, for a tech book). I assume this is the norm for all APress books these days, which is very cool as the cover price didn&#039;t seem to be inflated because of it.&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;The book starts with a simple introduction to PHP-GTK and moves on to installation instructions. Unfortunately, it didn&#039;t include any for OS X, however, the windows and linux ones are very complete.&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;One thing I feel I ought to mention, that wasn&#039;t readily apparent to me, is that this book covers PHP-GTK2.&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;From these humble beginnings the book then takes you on a wild ride through PHP-GTK2; coverings the basics including the PHP-GTK M.O., the basics and signals and widget types, Scott then takes you throught he creation of an complex (somewhat) example application showcasing all of the awesomeness that PHP-GTK2 is.&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;This book is not a fast reader, its quite a mental shift from web to application programming if you&#039;ve never really done it before, especially with PHP. However, the book is first-rate and highly recommended.&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;One of the biggest things I&#039;ve taken away from this book is just how adept PHP is at just about any situation you can throw at it. I would highly recommend the use of PHP-GTK2 at least for prototyping of new applications, with no need to recompile to make modifications as you go, PHP-GTK2 is an expedient route to perfection.&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;As the PHP-GTK2 installers/compilers mature, the deployability of PHP-GTK2 applications grows rapidly, and reading this book will take your exisitng knowledge of PHP and allow you to apply it to yet another situation, advancing the weapons in your development arsenal by huge proportions.&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/redirect?link_code=as2&amp;amp;path=ASIN/1590596137&amp;amp;tag=pixelateddrea-20&amp;amp;camp=1789&amp;amp;creative=9325&quot; onclick=&quot;window.open(this.href, &#039;_blank&#039;); return false;&quot;&gt;Pro PHP-GTK&lt;/a&gt; is highly recommended, a better PHP-GTK2 reference cannot be found.&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;- Davey&lt;/p&gt;

 
    </content:encoded>

    <pubDate>Sun, 06 Aug 2006 17:22:00 -0500</pubDate>
    <guid isPermaLink="false">http://pixelated-dreams.com/archives/237-guid.html</guid>
    <category>php</category>
<category>php-gtk2</category>
<category>reviews</category>

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