PHP
PHP Tip: Handling Form Data
One of the most common tasks of a Web Dev, has down, is handling form data. As a web developer you'll create hundreds of forms and in turn, write hundreds of pieces of code to handle your form data.
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Modrewrite and Short Urls – What you really want to know.
I recently opened up an old .htaccess and I was struck with the memory of how much it sucked trying to Google search for some real, working, answers on making short urls.
So here you go, my quick tip on what you really want to know about mod_rewrite.
Professional PHP
It's important to remember what sets a professional PHP developer apart from the pack that floods your average help channel.
Too often I run into reviewing or helping a "professional" developer, and I can't help but mutter "you're doing it wrong..."
Screen Scraping made too easy
Recently I had some free time and I decided I wanted to automate some common tasks of mine. And let me tell you honestly, I hate having to do screen scraping. It's an annoying, tedious task. Making regex for this, and for that, and then to find out my hours were wasted as that regex won't work on another site.
That's a thing of the past.
PHP Reference Card – Failed?
While taking a look at my 'Tech Blogs' tab in NetVibes I saw the headline for a reference card available for PHP. So, I hopped on over to dZone.com, got an account (it's free), and downloaded it.
I'm not really impressed.
I believe the beginner may benefit from this, but there's just so many gaping holes in the reference card... Like what about the GD library? Or perhaps cURL? File handling? XML?
Honestly, how could you call a reference card a PHP Reference Card without the most common uses listed? I think the card may be off to a good start, but please, release a new more complete version soon.
Final Verdict:
While it may be great for beginners, it's still lacking for the rest of us. I'll pass and keep php.net as my reference card.
PHP & MySQL Tip #3 – EAV Modeling w/ PHP & MySQL
PHP & MySQL Tip #3
I want to share with some of you an easy way to set up your database design in a very flexible and reliable EAV like model.
PHP & MySQL Tip #2 – Better Way of Pagination
I've seen this come up a few times in #php on irc.gamesurge.net - how to find the total number of rows found, while using the LIMIT clause on a query.
I've seen people respond with some seriously incorrect solutions, such as 'Simply load all of the results into an array and only show X amount' or 'Simple run another query without the LIMIT clause and count those rows.'
Those two, common, solutions are sadly not the best solution.
Read on to discover my solution.
Problem Solving – guide to PHP programming and debugging.
Problem solving forms part of thinking.
Interesting... so, if so many web devs and IT personnel have such a problem with problem solving, perhaps they're just not thinking? Let's explore some of the problems I've seen people encounter, and how I was baffled they lacked the problem solving skills to complete their tasks.
PHP and MySQL Tip #1 – Error Checks
I'd like to share with all of you some PHP Tips.
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