Some highlights from the meeting include new/upcoming RFCs for package naming schemes, exception handling in PHP 5.3, and a vote on extending the current PEAR2 Policies. Heavy stuff, check it out!

You can check out the full notes here on the PEAR portion of the PHP.net wiki.

So I attended the PEAR2 presentation and had a chance to bug the guys behind PEAR/PECL. There's definitely exciting stuff happening and they are pushing forward with many exciting ideas.

His suggestions include updates to documentation, crrection broken parts of the API and a "Package News" feature with the ability to leave comments on them.

He's also posted another suggestion - the ability of the authors of the project to provide other links besides the ones just for the project (external documentation, tutorials, etc)

I'm writing this blog article from the HiccUp Dortmund, where our birthday meeting takes place. [...] Nearly all our oldies are present today to commemorate this anniversary.

You can get more information on the group and the wheres and whens of their next meetup over on the user group's page (including links to current information about several of the group's members).

It sounds like they have a very active and vibrant PHP developer community in Costa Rica, and they've found two very supportive universities that have offered to host their meetings and events. I wish that every PHP user group could find sponsors willing to provide computer labs and even bring in outside speakers!

According to the Costa Rica PHP website they had a wonderful response from local developers and found them all eager to contribute however they could. They even have the support of two local universities where they can meet/do work in their labs (even bring in speakers from other countries).

Centered around the concept of "situational applications," IBM's work with mashups targets a growing trend in Web site development. [...] IT specialists should embrace the model as a foothold for PHP in the enterprise.

Some of Dan's presentation is outlined as well - a demo of IBM's Mashup Starter Kit, a look at best practices, and talk on the collaboration of IBM with Zend and ProgrammableWeb. If you're wanting to attend, be sure you RSVP as soon as possible (before the 21st @ 3pm) to reserve your spot.

What is less known is that PHP is also making significant inroads in the enterprise. Join BostonPHP, IBM and Zend as we discuss where Enterprise PHP (and OSS) is going and how it's going to get there. This promises to be a great evening with plenty of "horsepower" to answer your questions.

Speakers for the evening will be Mark de Visser, Zend's CMO and David Boloker, IBM's CTO of Emerging Internet Technologies. The meeting will be happening on Tuesday, September 11th starting at around 6:30pm. The meeting will be held in Cambridge at 1 Rodger's Street. Check out the official announcement of the meeting for full details.

The PHP User Group Frankfurt am Main (PHPUGFFM) will be celebrating its 5th anniversary tomorrow and is planning for a big party, so if you're in the area, be sure to drop by! Well, of course it's a geek party (they're developers, what did you expect? :-)) so there'll be plenty of talks before the actual socializing will start.

Session topics will be Unobtrusive Javascript, $YAJQ ++, PHP Homebanking (the sequel), PHP Dos, Don't and maybes, juicy Joost and ION parser - sounds like a very interesting mix to me.

The meeting will be happening on May 10th there in Frankfurt at around 7:30-8:00pm and will feature some good talks before the party begins. Check out the meeting's entry for complete information.

I just created the Columbia PHP Meetup Group, something we have been wanting to do for a while. The inaugural meeting is going to be held at our headquarters on Mon, 05 Mar 2007.

The plan for the first meeting, according to Chris, is to give lightening talks on whatever subject the attendees decide on. Other OmniTI-ers might show as well (Wez Furlong, George Schlossnagle, etc).

Jonathan Modell was tonight's presenter. [...] His presentation focused on how he learned to integrate Ajax technology within a core PHP system. Obviously this is a hot topic, if somewhat too hot in my opinion.

David describes the rest of the presentation, highlighting where some of the popular Ajax function started, an overview of how it works, how JSON fits into the picture, and the speaker's preference in Ajax tools like Prototype.

Atlanta PHP connects and unites PHP users across the Southeast, provides world-class support and resources to the community, and advocates the adoption of PHP to local, national, and international businesses.

Their meetings happen on Thursday nights (the first Thursday of each month) and they're open to any and all topics from whoever. If you're interested, check out the official post for contact information. Note: compensation isn't part of the package, but is "being investigated for the future".