Introduction to Version Control with CVS

CVS is one of those tools that everyone seems to use. Itdrives every project on SourceForge, and is used on numerous otherprojects, including PHP and PEAR. CVS also, however, seems to bringfear to the eyes of those who don’t use it and don’t understand it.This month Dejan takes you on an introductory tour through the CVSsystem, showing you how to use it, how it works, and why you care.Pay attention–your code will thank you.—by Dejan Bosanac

Object Overloading in PHP

Everyone knows that PHP4’s object model is not a fullimplementation, and that PHP5 will offer a vastly more completesystem. But did you know that one of the coolest features of PHP5’sobject model is available in PHP4? The overload extension allowsyou to capture calls to methds that don’t exist in your objects,and to catch attempts to read and write non-existant properties.Once caught, you have full control over how those calls andaccesses are handled. Alessandro shows you the ins and outs, andhow you can implement traditional method overloading.—by Alessandro Sfondrini

Introduction to PHP-GTK

PHP-GTK is an area of PHP that has been largely ignored bythe masses. A few (very good) desktop applications exist that havebeen written in this flavour of our favourite server-side language,but you can almost count them on your fingers and toes. Eric wantsto change that. This article takes you from A to Z in the PHP-GTKmodel, and leaves you with a pretty cool example application tolearn from.—by Eric Persson

An Introduction to SQLite

SQLite is being hailed as one of the most exciting parts ofPHP5. As an embedded database engine that is bundled with PHP5, itwill make it possible to use SQL for almost anything, withoutworrying about the availability of a database server and clientlibraries on target systems. John shows you how it works, and whatyou can do with it.—by John Coggeshall

Working with PEAR::XML_Serializer

XML is two-sided. It is an incredibly descriptive and usablemethod of transferring information, but the XML API’s out theremanage to make it hard to work with. Then along comesPEAR::XML_Serializer. All of a sudden, XML is easy–you’re writingXML, and you don’t even care. It’s a beautiful place to be, andStephan’s going to take you there.—by Stephan Schmidt

Implementing Web Server Load Management

What happens when you get an unexpected number of hits onyour site? Does your server tip over? Do you get another ulcer? Noway–you manage the load and think about going out for lunch! JoinRodrigo as he uses concepts like system-wide sessions and queuetheory to describe a load throttling mechanism he developed for aUniversity registration system—by Rodrigo Becke Cabral