This Week’s Link List (March 4, 2011)

This week’s list is long. I highly recommend the first two links…both are interesting reads…I would be interested in comments from readers. Otherwise, I hope the categories help you find other interesting reads (but I don’t think you can lose)…

On Microsoft in the community…
- This is a very interesting interview with Gianugo Rabellino, the recently hired Director of Open Source Communities at Microsoft: http://www.computerworlduk.com/in-depth/careers/3263128/open-source-expert-takes-on-the-hardest-job-at-microsoft/
- On Microsoft reaching out to PHP communities (featuring Michelangelo van Dam): http://www.networkworld.com/news/2011/030111-microsoft-php-opensource.html?hpg1=bn
- The February edition of the IIS newsletter is available: http://www.iisnewsletter.com/archive/february2011.html

PHP in Azure…
- Cory Fowler posts part 3 of his series on leveraging full IIS support in Windows Azure: http://blog.syntaxc4.net/post/2011/02/27/Installing-PHP-on-Windows-Azure-leveraging-Full-IIS-Support-Part-3.aspx
- Ben Waine walks through setting up a local MSFT development environment: http://www.ben-waine.co.uk/blog/php-azure/setting-up-a-local-microsoft-development-environment.php
- If you are considering running your business software in Windows Azure, the ideas about maintaining account security in this article might be interesting: http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/magazine/gg607453.aspx

Code…
- Yet another look at the how's and why's of anonymous functions: http://www.schmengler-se.de/anonymous-function-calls-in-php
- Kevin Schroeder walks you through using his new library that allows you to implement asynchronous functionality with Zend Server Job Queue: http://www.eschrade.com/page/new-zend-server-job-queue-library/
- Ilia Alshanetsky's talk "Memcached, the Better Memcache Interface" from ZendCon 2010: http://devzone.zend.com/article/13104-ZendCon-Sessions-Episode-040-Memcached-the-better-Memcache-interface
- Giorgio Sironi on what you must know about PHP errors: http://css.dzone.com/articles/what-you-must-know-about-php
- Dave Gardner walks you through his code (leveraging the Joined.In API) that generates recommendations for talks you might have missed at a conference: http://www.davegardner.me.uk/blog/2011/02/27/applying-collective-intelligence-to-php-uk-conference-2011/
- Phil Haack shows off a cool feature of the Razor syntax: http://haacked.com/archive/2011/02/27/templated-razor-delegates.aspx
- Malcolm Sheridan shows how to build dynamic websites with WebMatrix: http://blogs.sitepoint.com/2011/03/01/building-dynamic-websites-with-webmatrix/

On testing and coding standards…
- Michael Nitschinger covers unit testing, integration testing, and reverse routing in part 2 of Understanding the Lithium Router: http://nitschinger.at/Understanding-the-Lithium-Router-Part-2
- Christian Johansen walks you through his ideas about testing Javascript (mostly using a library called Sinon.JS): http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/scriptjunkie/gg649850.aspx
- Jason Gilmore presents "Testing Your Web Forms with Zend_Test": http://www.internet.com/video/?bcpid=86842592001&bckey=AQ~~,AAAAE9-JbIE~,kp-fJ_AakbJ-2c7lZYRoX4KLMpyFaQ_t&bclid=87185324001&bctid=793834242001
- Jason Gilmore show how to test forms in PHP with SimpleTest: http://www.phpbuilder.com/columns/simpletest/Jason_Gilmore03012011.php3
- Daniel Schlichtholz provides an excellent overview of PHP_CodeSniffer and walks you through creating classes for your own coding standards (called sniffs): http://blog.mayflower.de/archives/631-Creating-coding-standards-for-PHP_CodeSniffer.html

Framework news…
- Stuart Herbert's on how to use frameworks without becoming hostage to them (slides from PHP UK 2011 Conference): http://blog.stuartherbert.com/php/2011/02/25/phpuk-2011-talk-beyond-frameworks/
- I haven't tried this, but Sparks looks like an interesting package management system for CodeIgniter: http://getsparks.org/
- Zend Framework 1.11.4 has been released (with a WinCache adapter!): http://devzone.zend.com/article/13153
- Matthew Weier O'Phinney shows you how to contribute to Zend Framework 2: http://weierophinney.net/matthew/archives/255-How-to-Contribute-to-ZF2.html

Conference news…
- Want to win a ticket to DPC 11? Here's how: http://techportal.ibuildings.com/2011/02/25/win-a-ticket-to-dpc11/
- Cal Evans gives a rundown of upcoming PHP conferences in 2011: http://devzone.zend.com/article/13103-See-and-be-seen-hear-and-be-heard.-Conference-season-is-upon-us-which-one-are-you-going-to
- The PHP Community Conference speaker list is up! http://phpcon.org/speakers

Image processing…
- Gonzalo Ayuso shows how to dynamically add watermarks to images (the same should be possible with the IIS URLRewrite Module): http://gonzalo123.wordpress.com/2011/02/28/watermarks-in-our-images-with-php-and-mod_rewrite/
- Ronald Nicholls shares his code for dynamically creating thumbnail images: http://www.onextrapixel.com/2011/02/25/creating-dynamic-image-thumbnails-using-php/

General web development…
- Chris Shiflett wonders about "a new breed of web apps that don't feel quite right.": http://shiflett.org/blog/2011/feb/javascript-and-urls
- If you are looking for a better cross-browser compatibility tool, you might find one in this list of 10: http://www.designer-daily.com/10-cross-browser-compatibility-tools-for-designers-13359
- This roundup of PHP template engines has a handy reference chart for choosing one that suits your needs: http://webification.com/best-php-template-engines