So, I was asked in IRC today about the proposed short array syntax for PHP. For those that don't know, I mean the same syntax that other languages (javascript, perl, python, ruby) all have. [...] It just feels like a good addition to the language. It is common among web languages and therefore users coming into PHP from other languages may find it more comfortable.

He compares it with other data type creation in PHP (you don't call int() to make an integer, so why call array() to make an array). However, according to a post from the internals mailing list, we might not be seeing this any time soon.

At The Integer Group, we've created an environment based on the beliefs that there are no challenges that can't be met, no problems that can't be solved, and no conventions that can't be broken. Our drive and determination create energy - electricity that courses through every brainstorming session and into every project and that manifests itself not only in the work we produce but in our surroundings.

Creating groundbreaking work that drives sales and wins awards is what we strive for on every project, for every brand and every client. We've produced great work for some of the biggest brands in the world and for some that you've probably never heard of. But no matter the size of the client, they always know what to expect from our agency: innovative thinking, big ideas, and an all-consuming passion. For the business. For the brands. For the future.

What can you bring to Integer?

We are currently seeking a Web Developer in our Lakewood, Colorado agency. This position works directly with the IT Manager on continuing development, customization, and maintenance of the company Intranet. Duties include developing internal applications using PHP programming language; administer database structures of MySQL backend databases, perform special programming and database projects as requested and provide assistance with integrating our Intranet with our other systems.

Qualified candidates will have:

• Minimum 3-5 years PHP development and web programming language
• Minimum 3-5 years MySQL and SQL experience and administration
• Experienced in HTML, XML, and UNIX.
• Prefer experience in JavaScript, AJAX, CSS PHP5, and Mambo
• Strong written and verbal communication skills
• Attention to detail including ability to work with numbers
• Ability to handle changing priorities in a deadline driven environment
• Ability to manage multiple projects
• Strong communications skills and the ability to explain corrective procedures to non-technical users
• Practical problem solving and troubleshooting skills
• Ability to work overtime with little advanced notice

Interested? Please apply online at jobs.integer.com.

Still not convinced? Feel free to explore our website at www.integer.com

The Integer Group is one of the nation's leading promotional advertising and marketing agencies. Founded in 1993, the agency has offices in Denver, Dallas, and Des Moines and a network of field offices from coast to coast. The Integer Group is part of Omnicom Group, Inc., a leading global-marketing and corporate-communications company. Omnicom's branded networks and numerous specialty firms provide advertising, strategic media planning and buying, direct mail, promotional marketing, public relations, and other specialty communication services to more than 5,000 clients in over 100 countries.

The Integer Group Denver was named 8th best Medium-sized company to work for in the USA in 2007 by the Great Place to Work Institute Inc. For more information on Great Place to Work, check out: www.greatplacetowork.com

A weakness and a vulnerability have been reported in PHP 5, where the vulnerability has unknown impact and the weakness can be exploited by malicious, local users to bypass certain security restrictions.

The issue is caused by issues with the chunk_split and realpath functions that can lead to a bypass of the open_basedir restriction on a server.

The issue is marked as "moderately critical" and it is suggested that users update to PHP 5.2.3 to correct the issue.

Until recently I thought that currently popular scripting languages, which mostly evolved over last 10 years or something, must allow for easier portability across different platforms compared to ye good olde C/C++.

However, PHP just brought me a new definition of "portable" - and that was when working with... integers.

He points out that PHP isn't able to correctly handle unsigned integers ("and converts values over 2^31 to signed"). He goes on to talk about how this differs between platforms too (32 vs 64 bit) and some of the research he did to find out just what was going on (including some code examples to illustrate the point).

The PHP 5 branch of the PHP source code lacks the protection against possible integer overflows inside ecalloc() that is present in the PHP 4 branch and also for several years part of our Hardening-Patch and our new Suhosin-Patch.

It was discovered that such an integer overflow can be triggered when user input is passed to the unserialize() function.

You can get the full details from this advisory release including a recommendation to patch the installation until it is corrected in the current distribution.

In this second part of a three-part series, we take up the topic of server-side validation. By the time you finish this article, you'll have the general guidelines for how to build a form validating class. You'll use some PHP built-in introspection functions, along with regular expressions, to assist you in building this class.

They create several functions, including validateEmpty, validateInteger, validateNumber, validateRange, and validateEmail. Each one (obviously) serves their own purpose, and some are more complex that others (validating an integer versus a valid email address), but they walk you through each, showing you plenty of code and explainations along the way...]]> Tue, 24 Jan 2006 06:57:09 -0600