The fact of the matter is that it's not such a big deal. Porting a plugin from Wordpress to Serendipity is usually trivial, and as we see more web-services based plugins (stuff like the awesome askimet) the task becomes simpler and simpler.

Interoperability is overrated, the more you think of it the more complex it gets. As you start throwing in new factors into the equation (how will this interoperate with a java/c# application) you start to develop monsters like JSR 170 which solve a lot of problems on paper, but in reality are too unwieldy to be truly useful.

He even lists out some of his "steps to interoperability" to help speed things along (like "use as much abstract code as possible" and "use services").

Ben Ramsey will be speaking on "XML & Web Services with PHP (An Overview)" at the upcoming Zend/PHPConference and Expo. Since I hang out with Ben in the freenode.net #phpc channel I thought it would be cool to talk to him for a bit about his session.

They talk about why Ben is passionate about web services, the two popular protocols for using these services - SOAP and REST, and which one of them Ben prefers.

I have been working closely with Matthew Weier O'Phinney for the last week on bringing my Zend_Service_Server proposal to fruition.

There have been several changes, but the core has not moved too far. Matthew, Andi and I have decided that we will first implement the different server/client libraries.

He lists the libraries they'll need to tackle first and talks about an "exercise" he did to work up a JSON server component that works in a similar fashion.

Here's the link to publisher's page dedicated to the PHP Programming with PEAR. Guess who wrote the chapter for MDB2? ;)

It's an honour to me to be in the company of the other authors, people who have done a lot for the PEAR community

He also mentions some of the topics that the book will contain, including accessing databases with MDB2, creating and parsing XML documents, and accessing web APIs. The book is coming out in September, so keep on the lookout for it at your local bookseller soon.

Rob Richards is the author of Pro PHP XML and Web Services. He literally wrote the book on using PHP and XML together. At php|works, he is leading a tutorial on using XML in web services using the DOM extension.

If you ever get a chance to hear Rob do a presentation, let me warn you, it is not for the faint of heart. As I learned last night when I sat down with Rob to record an interview, Rob likes to speak on leading edge and advanced topics. This tutorial is an excellent example of that philosophy.

Cal talks more about the content of the talk - its simplicity despite the complex topic, how much info is jammed in, and the fact that it's not just one giant pitch for Rob's book.

My session, "Consusming Web Services with PHP-GTK 2″ will be a look at how to turn a web services API into a desktop application. I only have fifty minutes so it won't be very heavy on implementation details. Instead it will look more at representing different data structures, collecting different types of data and how creating a desktop application can make life easier for the company and the end user.

Scott joins other speakers for this great event, including speakers like Ilia Alshanetsky, Wez Furlong, and Zeev Suraski. Be sure to check back on the Zend site soon to see when Scott and others' talks will be held.

You might have noticed that I changed the title of this blog to "ThinkingPHP and beyond" a couple days ago. I did that because currently I'm thinking a lot about where go with it. I definetly want to stay focused on PHP in general, but I feel like I (and a lot of other php developers) actually work with a lot more technologies then "just" php. So I'd like to talk about that as well.

Some of the other topics Felix is considering talking about include PHP coding practices, web standards/usability/accessibility, web services, and agile development topics. Keep an eye out here for more to come from this great blog - we'll always post the latest.

Yes, I am leaving Zend. I felt that it was time for me to move on. It's been a great place to work. I learned new skills there, met wonderful people, and did some things that I'm very proud of. I wish everyone there the best, especially the professional services team that I am leaving.

As this leaves a hole to fill at Zend, they're already actively looking for others to come work there (see this post from John Coggeshall for more information on that).

Since its release in 2004, PHP 5 has evolved to become stable enough for serious consideration in use in a production environment. Along the way, PHP 5 has seen more than a handful of tweaks and changes, especially in its overhauled support for XML and XML web services. Now that it is a stable, it is fitting that there be a reference on all things PHP and XML.

Enter Pro PHP XML and Web Services, which aims to be "your single source of reference when using XML in PHP".

The reviwer remarks first about the size of the book (of Biblical proporations) and how it seeks to "leave no stone unturned" when it comes to using XML and web services with PHP. The first chapters are a review of XML, including a chapter on XPath, XPointer, and XInclude. From there, the book gets more into the PHP5 functionality and the features it offers. The main focus, however, is on the web services, with a few chapters given just to them.

Overall, the review is positive, save for some concerns of the content dealing with XML security and XSLT.

Due to technical limitations with our streaming software, we could only allow the first 550 folks into the presentation. Because of the network load, this was a difficult presentation to pull off due to lag. Paging from slide-to-slide was very delayed, so showing the code-completion capabilities of Zend Studio was nearly impossible. Despite the technical difficulties, several good questions were asked and feedback was very positive.

In order for everyone to see the presentation, I re-recorded it this afternoon, and it's available for your viewing. This one is much smoother, and I expanded on some of the topics that I glanced over in the first one. So even if you viewed the first attempt, you'll probably get more out of the second.

The presentation can be viewed here and the Zend DevZone post also has the question/answer section as well.