Monday, December 8, 2008

PHP Web Developer India

PHP has taken the IT world by storm. Developers have taken a liking for PHP because it is emerging as the most efficient, open-source scripting language. Besides, it’s a well-known fact, that Apache is the most used web server in the world and that PHP is the most used language. The article discusses briefly what makes PHP the cynosure of developer’s eye.
Eager to know who’s the brain behind this big-bang theory in the development world? He’s Rasmus Lerdorf The developer utilized the first version to run his own home page, while his collection of Practical Extraction and Report Language (Perl) code snippets created by him in 1994 were named Personal Home Page (PHP).

The principle reason for Rasmus to develop PHP language was to keep a track of users viewing his on-line resume. To make it more powerful, Rasmus created functions in C to enable programmer connectivity to a database. This helps programmers coding in PHP, develop dynamic web sites.

Besides the PHP code was open for viewing and manipulation purpose, to further check out its practicality. The arrangement reportedly brought about an improvement in PHP’s coding standards.

In 1995, the second version of Personal Home Page was released along with a form interpreter (PHP/FI).

Such was the craze for the new language that by 1997 over 50,000 websites had PHP installed. In the same year PHP/FI 2.0 was developed by an alpha version. However, developers like Zeev Suraski and Andi Gutmans discovered that PHP/FI 2.0 was way behind the mark when it came to development of their eCommerce application.

Consequently the progress towards another version of PHP/FI was stopped and PHP 3.0 got the encouraging push. Within no time, version 3.0 proved to be hit due to its innovative features, which helped the end users develop their applications on many databases, protocols and APIs.

The jump from procedural to object orientated coding led to a change in PHP’s focus. The official version of PHP 3.0 was released in June 1998.

After the release, Andy and Zeev got totally engaged in improvisation of the PHP language for about two months in an attempt to optimize the performance of large websites. The duo were trying to introduce modularity in the language. The “Zend Engine” being the result (A combination of two letters existing in the creators Zeev and Andi names). In 1999 the Zend Engine was released.

In May 2000 PHP 3.0 gave way to PHP 4.0. The new version was bifurcated into three sections – The Zend Engine, Server API and Function Modules.

The Zend Engine is accountable for parsing PHP code, defining the syntax of the programming language.

The Server API enables communication and interfacing with the Web Server. With this API, integration of PHP with other servers is possible.

Function Modules comprises MySQL, XML, etc.

PHP 3.0 and PHP 4.0 utilize objects as containers of properties like associated arrays. An associated array is array with keys which have a value associated. The object had to belong to a class full of properties and functions.

Formerly, PHP objects where being utilized as associative arrays rather than the way they should be used. Values were used to pass objects into functions instead of reference. This challenged the purpose of programming with object, according to Zeev Suraski. According to him ‘Objects and other types of values are not equal; therefore, Objects should be passed around by reference unless stated otherwise.”

So far PHP has struck a right chord with the developers. However, in a bid to make it more object oriented PHP 5.0 was evolved, based on the newest Zend Engine 2.0 release.

The Zend website provides an outline on how to use the Zend 2.0 Engine with the latest PHP 5.0 release. In the Zend 2.0 Engine, Andi Gutmans has treated Object very differently. Objects now will be dealt as object handles, indexed in a global object table.

This stirs up an important fact that should not be confused. That fact that the object handles will be passed by their value in the index table. This does not mean that the objects are being passed by value. The result is quite the opposite. The novel feature means that object handles will be passed by value and objects will be passed by reference.

Now PHP will perform functions like a proper Object Oriented language with this latest release of PHP 5. Objects acting like objects will now be of great advantage to the end users, as the overall functionality of the application gets enhanced. Consequently the application will run faster and the problems with regards to object orientation will reduce considerably. This means that large applications will be become easier to maintain and extend upon.

To facilitate PHP 5.0 with its new OO philosophy, Zend 2.0 has unleashed new offerings, like private member variables and methods, static variables and language level aggregation. PHP will now be able to interact with external component models, such as Java, COM/DCOM, and .Net.

This means that PHP now at a comfort level with Java and .Net environment, since the elements in these languages can be used transparently inside PHP, as if they were PHP components.

PHP 5.0 will use the identical interface for all objects, including native objects, ensuring that all objects in the application (i.e. PHP objects and overloaded objects) behave in a steady manner.

Besides PHP 5.0 will further find favor among the developers with its error handling capabilities so now your application can apprise the user of what the problems are.

PHP 5.0 is consistently evolving as the biggest plus point for web applications. With the use of the Zend Engine 2.0, large scale web applications using PHP 5.0 will perform better, thanks to PHP’s continuous drive towards object orientation.

Zen Restaurant Review

Location: Zen Restaurant, Za’abeel Park, Dubai

Review:

For a newcomer, finding gate 6 of Za’abeel Park was not the easiest battle to win considering the general lack of directions/ signage in Dubai. After locating gate 6, we then faced round 2 of our confusion; where exactly is Zen? After parking a certain distance away, we walked to the entrance and were informed that Zen was, in fact, right in front of the entrance. We were all smiles considering the appetite we had built up!

As we marched forward towards the restaurant, we noticed the obvious lush green environment and a lake that surrounds the restaurant – a great first impression. After entering Zen, there’s a certain sense of comfort that engulfs you. This could be attributed to the peaceful ambience within the restaurant, although the lack of customers was quite apparent.

To start off, we were recommended iced teas. Both the Thai Iced Tea & the Green Iced Tea with honey were quite satisfying and worth a try. Moving on to the food, we felt that the server was not very knowledgeable and fortunately the owner gave us his personal attention. I was recommended the “Laab Tofu” a salad not on the menu but specially offered to meet my vegetarian taste buds. I was definitely pleased with the suggestion! It was a perfect mix of the right spices, the results being delicious. My friends enjoyed their soups and we all savored the next recommendation from the owner – “Pad Sieu Che.” Although we normally go for the typical Pad Thai, we particularly enjoyed this dish which to summarize I would describe as Thai flat noodles. My friends also tried some Non-Veg dishes, Malays Mee Goreng, Stir Fried Noodle Chicken and Joru Che ; All fantastic dishes, savored to the last morsel!

The only area of slight dissatisfaction was the service. There was possibly only one server that night who was not the most helpful – it was the manager that made the difference.

Come October, the restaurant will offer its outdoor seating overlooking the small lake and I can already see it overflowing with Dubai’s foodies.

Overall, I truly recommend this place especially for Thai food lovers!

To summarize I could say “A truly ‘hidden’ gem!”

Pricing:

The bill didn’t hurt the pocket too much either and therefore Zen is easily one of those restaurants you would visit frequently.

Average price per person (including drink/starter/main course): AED 80/person.