Karl Hughes

Karl is the CTO of The Graide Network, where he manages product development and software engineering. He also co-organizes the Chicago PHP User Group and runs CFP Land, a free newsletter for technology conference speakers.

twitter: @KarlLHughes

Articles

Improving Your PHP with Static Types

By Karl Hughes

As PHP incorporates more features typical of statically typed languages, you have the option of adopting an entirely new programming style. While static typing can make your code easier to understand, refactor, and test, PHP’s implementation isn’t quite the same as other languages. This article covers the state of static typing in PHP and how you can use it to improve your code.

Published in SOLID Foundations, November 2020

Community Corner: On Diversity in Conference Speakers

By Karl Hughes

Our systems truly evolve and change for the better when folks privileged by oppressive systems, who might reap some benefits from a destructive status quo, decide they would prefer a better, richer, more inclusive community, and take some of that labor on themselves.

Recently, members of our shared PHP community chose to do just that. Here, Karl Hughes reflects on that choice, how he and others came to make that decision in this specific situation, and why.

Published in Master of Puppets, September 2019

Cultivating a Community: Five Things I’ve Learned Running a PHP User Group

By Karl Hughes

In my first year of co-organizing the Chicago PHP User Group, I have learned a lot and met many wonderful people. Combining insights from the community with some of my own, I wanted to pass on some of the things I’ve learned about building and maintaining a thriving technical community. Whether you’re an organizer or attendee, I hope this gives you some insight into what goes on behind the scenes of running a user group.

Published in Renovating Applications with Symfony, August 2019