Learn PHP - Part 4: Taking Part in the Community

Photo: celesteh

Welcome to Part 4 of Learning PHP. If you’ve come here directly, be sure to check out Learn PHP - Introduction for an overview of the entire series!

Being a PHP programmer doesn’t have to be limited to staring at the computer screen and writing lines of code. The PHP community makes it incredibly easy to connect to the thousands of fellow PHP programmers out there. Hooking into the PHP community is a great way to learn more about PHP, find answers to your questions, or just blow off some steam after a long coding session.

In Learn PHP - Part 4: Taking Part in the Community, we’ll explore the many different ways of getting involved in the PHP community. Chatrooms, Forums, User Groups and more await. So let’s get this started.

IRC Chats

The most immediate way to connect with peers is through PHP related chatrooms. The #PHP channel on IRC is the biggest, boasting around 500-700 users a day (682 at the time of writing this article).

The #PHP channel is open to any PHP related discussion, but due to the faster pace and shorter answers associated with chatrooms, it primarily serves as a place to get help. Although the answers are usually top notch, its important understand that the advice given doesn’t always follow the best practices of the language. Always check back with the official documentation!

Connecting to the #PHP chat is an absolute breeze. The first thing you’ll need is an IRC client. If you don’t have one, there are many options available. There’s standalone programs like XChat, extensions to Firefox like Chatzilla, and even messenger programs like Pidgin or Trillian come with one already installed.

Once the IRC client is running, first connect to the server. Then fill in a username and type in #PHP to the channel. And voila, you’re in the chatroom (if you’re unfamiliar with IRC, you can read up about simple commands over at Wikibook’s article on IRC).

There’s a few good rules of thumb to know (these are also covered in the channel guidelines):

• Just Ask Since the chatroom is primarily used to answer questions, there’s no need to preface with a “I have a question” or “I have a problem”. So if you have a question, just ask.
• Dont Paste More Than 1 Line of Code Often times a problem requires multiple lines of code before it can be correctly diagnosed. Instead of typing the code into the chatroom, use the website PasteBin. Its incredibly simple to use, and once you paste the code there, just drop a link in the chatroom.
• Don’t Argue about Formats The chatroom isn’t the place to start a discussion about whether PHP or ASP is better. Stay on the topic of PHP and you’ll be fine.

User Groups

In addition to hosting the PHP documentation, php.net maintains a calendar of upcoming events at www.php.net/cal.php. If you take a quick look at the calendar, you’ll notice the events are organized into three types: large conventions (marked in blue), smaller user groups (marked in green), and paid courses (marked in black).

The real meat of the calendar is the user groups. User groups are simply groups of PHP programmers who come together to discuss PHP. Some groups only meet online, but most of them meet in person on a monthly basis. These meetings maintain a mix of presentations, and casual discussion.

If you’re a PHP programmer, its an unparalleled opportunity to meet fellow developers in your area. And aside from conventions, its probably your only chance to discuss PHP over drinks without people looking at you funny.

Forums

In many ways, forums are ideal places to discuss PHP. Most places offer well-thought out, and timely (less than 24 hours) responses. In addition, everyone else’s earlier questions are available to everyone in plain view, and in a searchable format. Here’s a short list of some forums worth checking out to both get some help as well as hone your PHP skills:

• Dev Network (http://forums.devnetwork.net/) Dev Network’s forum is massive, with over 42,000+ threads on PHP code alone. Additionally, Dev Network has multiple subforums for Tutorials, General Code, Theory and Design, Security, Database Interaction, Regular Expressions, and even a Code Critique to better optimize those working scripts!
• PHP Builder (http://phpbuilder.com/board/)PHP Builder also has a massive user forum based around PHP. If you can’t find an answer by searching at Dev Network, it’s most likely on PHP Builder (and vice versa). Also boasting specialized subforums, PHP Builder is another great resource.
• Zend Forums(http://www.zend.com/forums/) For general PHP questions, the Zend forums aren’t the best place to ask. But if you’re thinking about taking Zend’s certification exam, there’s no better place to read up about it.

Mailing Lists

The older brother of forums and chatrooms, mailing lists aren’t as popular as they were in the hey-day, doesn’t mean they aren’t worth your time. Unlike chatrooms, or even some forums, the mailing list responses are less rushed. As a result, the answers tend to be well thought out and easy to understand. Of course this is also the source of its biggest crux, responses on mailing lists can be slow.

But if you’re not under a tight deadline and want to learn more about PHP, mailing lists can be well worth the time invested. There’s a number of PHP related mailing lists to choose from over at php.net, and subscribing takes just a few seconds. So if you’re interested, head on over to http://www.php.net/mailing-lists.php and get started.

Conclusion

Joining the PHP community can’t get much easier. And the benefits of getting involved are worth every minute: help with programming; improved knowledge and skill; a place to vent frustration; that feel-good lift when you help someone else. And the best part of it all is there’s no obligation, time investment in any of these resources is only as much as you want.

And that wraps up Part 4 of the Learn PHP series. Be sure to check out the entire series, and be on the lookout for Part 5 coming soon!