If you’ve ever tried to read code written by someone other than yourself (who hasn’t?), you know it can be a daunting task. A jumble of “spaghetti code” mixed with numerous oddly named variables makes your head spin. Does this function expect a string or an array? Does this variable store an integer or an [...]

Ok, so you’re pretty comfortable with using the Zend Framework, specifically the use of Forms. Along with that, you have a good working knowledge of how to combine a host of standard validators such as CreditCard, EmailAddress, Db_RecordExists, and Hex, and standard filterssuch as Compress/Decompress, BaseName, Encrypt, and RealPath. But what do you do when a situation arises that’s outside the scope of the pre-packaged validators [...]

When I started teaching myself scripting languages, I started with Perl. One Perl motto is“TMTOWTDI” – “There’s More Than One Way To Do It,” and pronounced “tim-toady.” The idea is that there’s likely multiple ways to accomplish the very same thing, and the culture of the language encourages finding novel ways to do things. I’ve seen [...]