Re: [PHP] 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.