I've been working on a couple of open data projects recently - which has been very rewarding.

A couple of people have asked for some code so I've knocked up a quick version of the sort of thing I've been working on.

This code requires PHP 5.1 for the JSON functions but doesn't need any extra libraries (pecl_http can give better error messages but is a bit of a pain to install).

The Notes field in packages returns output in Markdown format - you can convert this to HTMl with a parser available at http://michelf.com/projects/php-markdown

Drupal has a fairly easy to meet set of requirements http://drupal.org/node/502452

But Drupal projects are free to set their own rules in this area and Drush has used functions only available in PHP 5.2 - as far as I can see this is just the json functions.

Frustratingly the latest version of RedHat provides PHP 5.1 and this is the second time I've run into the problem with a client who uses RedHat and understandably wants to stick to the standard packages.

OK so it isn't quite multi-threaded, but forking and controlling processes in the command line environment is still pretty powerful and something I've wanted to do on a couple of occasions.

http://brian.moonspot.net/php-fork

http://us.php.net/manual/en/book.pcntl.php

xdebug is an immensely powerful tool for exploring what your code really does.

You can get a long way using print_r  but ultimately this always requires that you predict the path your code will take - and the tricky bit about debugging is you need it when your predications have gone wrong.

It's generally pretty easy to set up

A few days into learning Symfony and so far I'm keen on

• configuration check to start with
• good MVC separation
• ability to generate initial MVC components from a database definition
• form validation to match database constraints
• wrapping various HTTP functions and globals in a request and response object
• separate dev and prod environments
• ajax integration - like defining a div as draggable in PHP
• explicit support for initial and test data

Things not to like

Well having found the Definitive Guide to Symfony a bit uninspiring I've spent a bit of time on the "Practical Symfony" book - online.

http://www.symfony-project.org/jobeet/1_2/Propel/en/

So far it's great - the first "three days" lessons went by pretty quick, and I'm glad I'd done some background reading.

Putting the two things together I feel I've probably got enough understanding  to start writing a basic app - which is exactly what I need to do to make sense of a load of reading.

An interesting post from Lullabot today on problems with Drupal's Schema API and the Twitpocalypse

It turns out that the Schema API doesn't properly understand the difference between different types of integers 

I had fun this weekend at the PHP London Test Fest, it was a great opportunity to learn something new and meet some great programmers.