esn studio

A while ago, I wrote a post about my eZ Publish extensions for Flickr and YouTube. I have been meaning to upload them onto official eZ publish repository but didn’t really get to doing it until I received a comment a few days ago which reads, “I’m exactly looking for these extensions. I couldn’t find anything on ez.no. Is it possible to download them or get from you in any way?”

Therefore, may I present you:

• Flickr tag search and
• Youtube tag search

Flickr tag search
This extension uses Flickr API to talk to Flickr database. Basically, you pass a keyword/tag you’d like to search to the template operator and it will return a list of photos. It provide a template operator and you can call it from any template after the extension is enabled.

Usage:

{flickr_tag_search($api_key,$tag,$per_page)}

@param string $api_key your unique api key provided by Flickr
@param string $tag keyword that you wish to search for, eg: dream
@param integer $per_page the total number of results to return eg: 10

Youtube tag search
This extension uses YouTube API to talk to YouTube database. Basically, you pass a keyword/tag you’d like to search to the template operator and it will return a list of matching videos. It provides a template operator which you can call from any template after the extension is enabled.

Usage:
{youtube_tag_search($dev_id,$tag,$per_page)}

@param string $dev_id your unique developer ID provided by YouTube
@param string $tag keyword that you wish to search for, eg: dream
@param integer $per_page the total number of results to return eg: 10

Special thanks to Kristof Coomans at eZ Publish for creating an account for me and Pommes for asking about the extensions.

I am sure you have heard of all the hype about the fastest growing social networking site, Facebook. Facebook has become very popular, so much so it even creates new jobs in IT & T industry. How do I know, I hear you ask. Have a look at this job ad on CrunchBoard - Facebook Application Developers. Companies are looking for skilled Facebook application developers who will help them build popular Facebook apps. According to the job ad, you will need the following skills to be considered:

* PHP development experience with PostgreSQL.
* Strong background in SQL, JavaScript, XML & XSL.
* Strong knowledge of the PHP5 Object model.
* Working knowledge of XHTML & CSS.
* Facebook API REST-based interface experience.
* Facebook Query Language (FQL) experience.
* Facebook Markup Language (FBML) experience.
* Effective communications skills to interface with non-technical staff to gather requirements.
* Excellent debugging and optimization experience.

I did a search on some popular job search engines in Australia (seek.com.au, careerone.com.au and mycareer.com.au) for the keyword “facebook” but no relevant result was found. On the other hand, there seems to be more Facebook related job in North America, and the States; employers are looking for Web API and Widget Developer, Facebook Application Developer, Software Developer for Facebook Applications and etc.

I think it is safe to say that Facebook is quickly becoming a development platform with its own markup and query language called Facebook Markup Language (FBML) and Facebook Query Language (FQL).

So maybe it’s time for us developers to start digging into Facebook application development if we haven’t already?

Technorati Tags: facebook, developers, jobs, career, trends

Last week, I was asked to give my two cents worth on the process of learning PHP and therefore I came up with the following.

1. Introduction to PHP — Learn what you can and can’t do with PHP, how similar/different it is to other programming languages, what is object-oriented PHP, etc
2. Installation — You will need to have a development environment to practise PHP, be it your local machine or a dev server
3. Basic syntax, data types, and operators
4. Control structures
5. Introduction to MySQL
6. Connecting to MySQL from PHP
7. Querying MySQL with PHP
8. Writing custom functions and libraries
9. Writing a web application or a dynamic website in PHP
10. Security in PHP
11. Best practices

And while we are on the topic of becoming a Web (PHP) Developer, Robert Love at Signified has written an article on a list of things you should know about when trying to become a web developer and make lots of money. In his own words:

Over the recent days I’ve been asked to speak with a few new starters where I work. As budding (and not-so-budding) web developers, they’re eager to latch onto the next big thing and blog about it in order to appear cool (oops!). So, in order to stop repeating myself and free up more time for shameless self-promotion, read on if you want to become a web developer and make lots of money.

Remember to engage your sense of humor before reading the article.

And last but not least, my advice to you is to actually start coding and writing applications in PHP because I have always found that the best way to learn something is by doing it.

Technorati Tags: web development, php, web developer, web programming, learning, education

Recently, a few people have been approaching me with their interest in learning PHP and today, I came across this article PHP 101: PHP For the Absolute Beginner via Digg. Talk about timing!

This area is intended for everyone new to PHP. It opens with a series of informal, entertaining tutorials written by Vikram Vaswani, founder and CEO of Melonfire. These tutorials build on a previously-published 5-part series which has now been updated and extended to embrace PHP 5, making parts of it suitable for those of you who already have worked with PHP 4 in the past.

If you came here to learn about elementary PHP 4 or basic PHP 5, this is for you. Enjoy!

The tutorials are divided into 15 main sections as below:

1. PHP 101 (part 1): Down the Rabbit Hole
2. PHP 101 (part 2): Calling All Operators
3. PHP 101 (part 3): Looping the Loop
4. PHP 101 (part 4): The Food Factor
5. PHP 101 (part 5): Rank and File
6. PHP 101 (part 6): Functionally Yours
7. PHP 101 (part 7): The Bear Necessities
8. PHP 101 (part 8): Databases and Other Animal
9. PHP 101 (part 9): SQLite My Fire!
10. PHP 101 (part 10): A Session In The Cookie Jar
11. PHP 101 (part 11): Sinfully Simple
12. PHP 101 (part 12): Bugging Out
13. PHP 101 (part 13): The Trashman Cometh
14. PHP 101 (part 14): Going to the Polls
15. PHP 101 (part 15): No News is Good News

Enjoy learning PHP!

Technorati Tags: php, tutorials, web development, programming, php5

The source code of Facebook (a popular social networking website) homepage was exposed on the Internet yesterday due to server misconfiguration. The following is an unofficial response made by Brandee Barker from Facebook:

Some of Facebook’s source code was exposed to a small number of users due to a bug on a single server that was misconfigured and then fixed immediately. It was not a security breach and did not compromise user data in any way. The reprinting of this code violates several laws and we ask that people not distribute it further.

More on this issue:
Techcrunch: Facebook Source Code Leaked
Digg: Facebook Source Code Leaked - Actual PHP Code

Technorati Tags: facebook, php, web development, source code