Traits is a mechanism for code reuse in single inheritance languages such as PHP. A Trait is intended to reduce some limitations of single inheritance by enabling . . . → Read More: PHP 5.4 and PHP Traits]]> Many ( or most ) of  PHP deverlopers know that PHP 5.4 came out with good feature called  PHP Traits.  In definition, it is summarized as below. 

Traits is a mechanism for code reuse in single inheritance languages such as PHP. A Trait is intended to reduce some limitations of single inheritance by enabling a developer to reuse sets of methods freely in several independent classes living in different class hierarchies. The semantics of the combination of Traits and classes is defined in a way, which reduces complexity and avoids the typical problems associated with multiple inheritance and Mixins.

RFC for PHP Traits can be found here

Traits can be very useful for single inhertance language like PHP  ( and many others ). Single inheritance can create redudency and other issues in many cases. 

Simple Traits example

<?php
trait ezcReflectionReturnInfo {
    function getReturnType() { /*1*/ }
    function getReturnDescription() { /*2*/ }
}

class ezcReflectionMethod extends ReflectionMethod {
    use ezcReflectionReturnInfo;
    /* … */
}

class ezcReflectionFunction extends ReflectionFunction {
    use ezcReflectionReturnInfo;
    /* … */
}
?>

A Trait is similar to a class, but only intended to group functionality in a fine-grained and consistent way. It is not possible to instantiate a Trait on its own. It is an addition to traditional inheritance and enables horizontal composition of behavior; that is, the application of class members without requiring inheritance.

PHP Manual describes it pretty well. Find it here

When you come across sitaution to use functionality from two base classes, give “traits” a try !

It is hard to imagine any application running without a database – be it  SQL based or noSQL data model. And that makes database an important part of Cloud suite.

A cloud database is a database that typically runs on a Cloud Computing platform, such as Amazon EC2, GoGrid and Rackspace.

There . . . → Read More: 10 Cloud based Database As Services (DaaS)]]>

It is hard to imagine any application running without a database – be it  SQL based or noSQL data model. And that makes database an important part of Cloud suite.

A cloud database is a database that typically runs on a Cloud Computing platform, such as Amazon EC2, GoGrid and Rackspace.

There are two types of deployment available for database on Cloud

• Users can run databases on the cloud independently, using a Virtual Machine image, or
• They can purchase access to a database service, maintained by a cloud database provider.

There are two types of databases

• SQL-based and
• NoSQL data model.

Deployment Models

Virtual Machine Image -  Cloud platforms allow users to purchase virtual machine instances for a limited time. It is possible to run a database on these virtual machines. Users can either upload their own machine image with a database installed on it, or use ready-made machine images that already include an optimized installation of a database. Totally makes sense, isn’t it ?

Database as a Service - This is what we are interested in. Some cloud platforms offer options for using a database as a service, without physically launching a virtual machine instance for the database. In this configuration, application owners do not have to install and maintain the database on their own. Instead, the database service provider takes responsibility for installing and maintaining the database, and application owners pay according to their usage. For example, Amazon Web Services provides two database services as part of its cloud offering, SimpleDB which is a NoSQL key-value store, and Amazon Relational Database Service which is an SQL-based database service with a MySQL interface.

A third option is managed database hosting on the cloud, where the database is not offered as a service, but the cloud provider hosts the database and manages it on the application owner’s behalf.

Here are some examples of popular Database As Service vendors

SQL based

• Amazon Relational Database Service (MySQL)
• Microsoft SQL Azure (MS SQL)
• Heroku PostgreSQL as a Service (shared and dedicated database options)
• Xeround Cloud Database – MySQL front-end
• EnterpriseDB Postgres Plus Cloud Database

NoSQL based

• Amazon_DynamoDB
• Amazon SimpleDB
• Google App Engine Datastore
• CouchDB Hosted Database
• MongoDB Database as a Service

As time permits, we will cover more details on each of these DaaS products.

Database is fun, isn’t it ?

Use product for free, but pay for services !

It works well and it strikes again. NGINX Launches Commercial Support for Open-Source Web Server

This is the first commercial offering of Nginx Inc., which was founded . . . → Read More: Software is opensource and free, but support is extra !]]> Well, that’s one of the most practical ways,  a opensource software company can survive or thrive !

Use product for free, but pay for services !

It works well and it strikes again. NGINX Launches Commercial Support for Open-Source Web Server

This is the first commercial offering of Nginx Inc., which was founded in July 2011 and launched in October. The company is offering three technical-support packages—Essential, Advanced and Premium. The support packages cover installation, configuration, performance improvement, software maintenance, design, implementation and optimization assistance. Consulting services are also available to assist customers in tailoring their custom configurations or adding further features and functionality, the company said.

Intended for small-, medium- or large-scale commercial Web installations, these offerings will be delivered by the original creators and developers of NGINX, to provide guaranteed levels of technical support and consulting services in cases where the best efforts of free community support are not enough.

“These options were designed with NGINX business users in mind,” said Andrey Alexeev, director of business development and marketing at Nginx Inc., in a statement. ”Whether you are using a single NGINX instance or thousands of NGINX-based Web servers for commercial applications, we now have direct vendor support to suit all levels of demand. We listen very carefully to our customers, and the commercial technical-support packages are designed to address their most common needs. Several enterprises have already subscribed, and in the future, we will be offering more services based on customer feedback.”

More Links

Wikipedia - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nginx

Nginx Company - http://www.nginx.com/

Opensource  technology has been playing important share in all aspects of computing . . . → Read More: Opensource & technology trends for 2012 !]]> As we are still  in first quarter of 2012, it won’t be late for some  predictions about trend in technology  :) As economic outlook continues to be  upward ( specially in IT and technology sector ) , 2012 holds many promises !!

Opensource  technology has been playing important share in all aspects of computing — from personal to enterprise.

In my opinion, we should see following technology related trends in 2012.

I can summarize in 3 words —  Cloud,  Mobile and Social media platform.

Here are details

• It’s about Cloud – Like other technology(??), Open source will get more momentum for Cloud enabling technologies.. There is lot more on this blog on Opensource Cloud computing.
  • Cloud infrastructure (IaaS) -  It is bound to grow. Cloud Infrastructure providing companies will get much more boost ! It is already exploding. Companies are making language specific Cloud infrastructure. Each language like  PHP, Python, Ruby etc has its own Cloud world. PHPCloud from Zend looks pretty good. It is covered in detail on this blog.
  • Platform Available as Service (PaaS) – It is new and emerging area and many companies are working on it. Availability of  platform as service will be hard to ignore for any company looking to build an application without worrying about all hardware, management and scalability issues. Who wouldn’t like that ??
  • Native/Legacy Application will continue to migration to Cloud (SaaS) –  We should see more migration from traditional web applications to Cloud based application.  For new applications, Cloud will start enjoying increasing market share.
  • Cloud service/consulting providers will thrive –  Of course, when there is lot happening in Cloud world, we need right expertise. It is perfect time for companies having background in Cloud computing and related services. Consulting services around Cloud area should be thriving  over 2011, which has already started.
• Mobile market will continue to explode - I think, I don’t need to write more on this. Almost everyone will agree. Reason is simple. Everyone can see  impact being made by mobile computing in their day to day life.
• Social Networking buzz will continue to exist – Well,  I asked this to my all Facebook buddies and most of them agree. No need to say more
• Social Media marketing will be even more important channel for marketing –  We already saw this happening in 2010. We will see this happening at much higher scales in 2012. Good news for leader like Facebook. This is also good news for companies working on  making products in area of  Social Media analytics, aggregation, gaming etc
• Enterprise Social Platform –  This is interesting segment and social platforms will penetrate further into enterprise, which is already at good momentum. Few successful examples  are  Yammer, SocialCast , Jive and many more. Opensource is not behind in this segement. Status.net, Blogtronix and few more have opensource offerings for enterprise social platform.

Now, what all this means for opensource world and its consumers ( which is all of us ) ?

Well, tons of opportunities for innovation. Opensource based cloud infrastructure is already at mature level, though lot more is happening every day ! Clouds platform for PHP, Java, Python and Ruby also have  its own share of love for Cloud. List is too long to describe in this one article, but I hope to go into details of each one  as time permits ! Exciting times

If you have something to add for 2012 technology trends, please, feel free to chime in.

As we are hooked up to LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter and many more social/professional networks, is it even possible to keep up with all the data and information ? And more importantly, are we able to use it effectively and make sense of  various bits of information.

I . . . → Read More: Information overload, can we effectively handle it ?]]> Looks like information highway is just getting bigger and faster…

As we are hooked up to LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter and many more social/professional networks, is it even possible to keep up with all the data and information ? And more importantly, are we able to use it effectively and make sense of  various bits of information.

I have 2600+ LinkedIn connection. I get around 2 updates a minute on LinkedIn and Facebook updates stream looks movie or stock trading streaming as it consntatly keeps updating…

This is TMI – Too Much Information. We will discuss more on TMI later.

Coming back to original topic, here is an immediate test.  Let’s see, how many people have time and interest to read this on LinkedIn, Facebook or other place.

If you have read this , just put a Comment or  do  Facebook ”like” !  Let’s see how many people actually notice it.

Feedback will decide and reflect, whether such networks updates even make sense or are they effective.

What do you think ?

Range varies from 5 weeks to infinite  Successful startups have been able to do that in upto 25 . . . → Read More: Your first million registered users for web start-up]]> How much time it takes on average for any new consumer facing web start-up/application ( be it in any vertical or social space ) to achieve its first million users ?

What do you think ?

Range varies from 5 weeks to infinite  Successful startups have been able to do that in upto 25 to 30 months !

• What are most important factors for achieving those million users ?
• What strategies companies can adopt to expedite the process ? And where do they fail ?
• What marketing strategies work and which one’s dont !

It’s up for debate. We may discuss and differ in our opinion, but I am sure that there is no doubt or disagreement in the statement that “Getting your first million users is  THE hardest part of the deal” Once you cross that, the  biggest hurdle seems to be over  and you start getting used to with being called  ”successful start-up”  :-)

Solution: There is a long way and a short !

I have tried both of them.  I will give you better solution first !  And the other one, you can google and try to find out

A Google product without proper support of  APIs ? This is not usual Google style.

As I read about it, developers anxiously awaiting the Google+ API (application programming interface) will have to wait a little while longer. Although Google is hard at work on building the tools which . . . → Read More: How long we need to wait for Google+ APIs ?]]> It’s killing me ! 

A Google product without proper support of  APIs ? This is not usual Google style.

As I read about it, developers anxiously awaiting the Google+ API (application programming interface) will have to wait a little while longer. Although Google is hard at work on building the tools which would enable developers to build third-party applications for the new social networking service from the search giant, the API’s launch is still “months” away.

Techcrunch reported that the timeframe, amorphous and vague as it is, was revealed by a Google+ project manager to a Google+ developer, who has asked to remain anonymous for obvious reasons.

And it’s certainly disappointing news for anxious Google+ enthusiasts and developers itching to launch or use apps that leverage the network’s unique capabilities, like Circles, Hangouts, Sparks and Huddles.

There is huge anticipation about Google+ APIs.

Let’s face it, there is some serious business to be done with G+ APIs apart from  addition to features for existing products and  some more innovation and creativity for bringing new products/services.

• All  News and Social media aggregator ( like  LinksAlpha.com ), will immediately support G+.
• All social media business analytics products will be working very hard to integrate G+. This is good news in general as there is even more data to analyze 

Our first use of  G+ APIs will be to integrate our media feed to Google+ using  APIs. No brainer there !

Note:

Even without API support, it is possible to post to your Google plus account ! And yes, it can be automated or triggered on an event.  If you want to know the answer, just ping or put a comment. Or may be you are aware of it already   Trick is to use post by “SMS” !

If you think of adding any comments, please feel free !

These are some of the common questions and situations, we face in any web development technology set. So at the end, it is not related to PHP only, but some of semantics and syntax for answers will be applicable to PHP in . . . → Read More: Interesting PHP Questions. Got answers ?]]> If you are a PHP Developer, you may find following interesting !

These are some of the common questions and situations, we face in any web development technology set. So at the end, it is not related to PHP only, but some of semantics and syntax for answers will be applicable to PHP in this case.

Any takers ?  Answers to follow in coming posts ! Stay tuned

1. How do you prevent SQL injection attacks in PHP? What if you are dealing with a PHP 4 legacy app?
2. What are some mechanisms for preventing cross-site scripting attacks?
3. What’s the best way to store password information in a database?
4. What are some methods to defend against spambots? Which ones are least burdensome on users?