Debugging Questions and Xdebug Answers

Despite its relatively young age, Xdebug is a very popularextension for PHP 4 and 5 that adds a great set of functions to thestandard interpreter to debug, profile and analyze PHP scripts. Inthis article, Xdebug’s author Derick Rethans provides a Q&Asession for PHP developers who want to know how Xdebug can helpmake solving debugging, profiling and testing problems easierthanks to its advanced features.—by Derick Rethans

Cheap Manpower – Calling External Programs from PHP Scripts

The ability to launch external programs from PHP scriptsenables the developer to extend the functionality of an applicationbeyond the capabilities of PHP func-tions and extensions—allthis with little effort and in a short time. Author MichalWojciechowski shows you a way to do this quickly and efficientlyright from your scripts.—by Michal Wojciechowski

File Fixing Robots

Have you ever suffered a defacement of your website or even afellow employee delete and important file from your server bymistake without you knowing until you got a phone call telling youto fix the server now? Then you may benefit from one of the automated PHProbots that Ron Goff describes in this article!—by Ron Goff

Imagine a user-friendly shopping cart that allows thecustomer to make instantaneous order adjustments without waitingfor the page to refresh, queries UPS for all the available shippingrates and charges the customers credit card upon checkout. Thatsame cart also handles the SSL security automatically, maintainsfunction regardless of browser and is XHTML 1.1, Section 508 andW3C WAI compliant. In Part Two of this two-part article, Eric DavidWiener tackles the most important topic of all: getting thecustomer’s money—from checkout to credit cards, he’s got youcovered.—by Eric Wiener

Open != $Free

Why do users of open-source software sometimes getdisillusioned with the con-cept of open-source? How can users anddevelopers work better together? In this article, I will addressthe issue of supporting open-source applications from both auser’s and developer’s perspective and will providesuggested guidelines on how the users and developers can help eachother to make each project a success.—by Mark Evans