Programming Elasticsearch with PHP

By Enrico Zimuel

In this article, we introduce the usage of Elasticsearch in PHP. Elasticsearch lets you add advanced searching features that you can’t easily do with a traditional database. We present the official PHP client showing some basic features like indexing, bulk (indexing multiple documents), and search. We also show some more advanced client usage, like logging, transfer statistics, and async requests. Last but not least, we present some latest features of Elasticsearch, such as aggregations and the schema-on-read available from version 7.12.

Mentoring and Teaching PHP

By Ken Marks

Hiring a new developer is a risky endeavor. What if they don’t work out? What if they get bored? What if our organization’s needs change? In this article, we’ll discuss what it takes to foster a learning environment for your tech team, why you should encourage learning, what it takes to be a good mentor, and what you’re looking for in a mentee. In particular, we’ll look at resources and practices for encouraging new PHP developers to grow.

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Education Station: Decorating Your Code

By Chris Tankersley

Programming languages are vastly different when it comes to syntax. Some may look so similar that they create an entire family of languages, just like real-world languages. PHP belongs to what is known as the C-style family, which constitutes languages that use curly brackets for flow control and ignore whitespace. Python does not belong to this family, as it uses indentation for flow control and pays attention to whitespace.

The Workshop: Installing Rocky Linux

By Joe Ferguson

If you use CentOS as the L in your LAMP stack, you may be wondering what to do after Red Hat’s announcement. Let’s look at a new community distro that aims to provide a replacement for CentOS.

PHP Puzzles: Cellular Life

Encrypting and decrypting messages were an early computing application. Last month’s challenge was to implement and harden a cipher from antiquity. Let’s look at possible solutions before moving on to this month’s challenge.

Sustainable PHP: Soylent Green

By Edward Barnard

Like many programmers, I am not a “people” person, but this article is about people. First, how might you discern what “people” aspects of your project are essential? Here’s my approach. Second, how might people inspire you and help make what you do more fun? We’ll see my approach as we make the transition from abstract discussions back to concrete details.

Security Corner: Evaluating Password Strength

By Eric Mann

An application is only as strong as the authentication systems used to gate entry and protect the data it contains. So long as your users leverage passwords, the weakest link in your security stance is the strength of those passwords. This month we take a deeper look at the strength of passwords and guidance to keep your users’ data secure.

Community Corner: Interview with Joe Watkins

By Eric Van Johnson

In this month’s Community Corner, we speak with Joe Watkins. Sure we get to know Joe a little better, but we also discuss a very impactful blog post he made called “Avoiding Busses.” If you’ve been reading my Community Corner contributions over the past year and a half, you may notice that this isn’t my typical profile piece.

finally{}: Rebuilding

By Beth Tucker Long

Recent times have been anything but expected. The community landscape is vastly different from it was two years ago. Where do we go from here?