After asking for topics to blog about on Twitter, Chris Hartjes has posted the first response to the suggestions - a look at continuous integration (CI) in PHP environments.

For those not familiar with the concept of Continuous Integration, I can sum it up with one very glib phrase: it lets you break your code before you buy it. [...] If I were to design a Continuous Integration (hereafter referred to as CI) system, what would it look like?

His requirements include version control integration, easy unit test execution, a web interface and be able to automate it all at a moment's notice. He talks about the importance of unit testing in CI and the tools that are available for the job like phpUnderControl, Xinc and Hudson. He also looks at the build process, from check-in through a successful build result and how he handles bugs when they do pop up.

On the WebHostingHero blog today there's a new post going back to the roots of the PHP language and some of the original contributors like Rasmus Lerdorf, Zeev Suraski and Andi Gutmans.

When PHP began in 1995, it represented a fork on common object oriented programming languages. Designed to help provide scripting for the web, the language took on a life of its own as it became one of the primary web development standards. Today, PHP is used by millions worldwide and powers a majority of sites.

They talk about how some of the original developers are active in helping to better the languages (directly and indirectly) and how the advocacy of the community has helped it grow even stronger over the years. There's also mini-spotlights on each of the three mentioned above.

Andi Gutmans mentions a program Adobe is starting up concerning Flex and PHP and they're looking for some developers to get in on it.

In this upcoming version [of Flex Builder], a significant new set of features are being introduced to accelerate creation of data-centric applications with PHP on the server-side leveraging Zend Framework and Zend AMF. Prior to the public Beta later in the year, Adobe would like to invite a select group of PHP developers into a private pre-release program for Flex Builder.

The group would get a sneak peek at the upcoming features, work with the development team and help to make the product into something the community really can use. If you'd like to get in on the program, fill out this survey and they'll get in touch with you with more information.

The Zend Developer Zone has posted about a new survey that Adobe is doing to try to get to know some of the web developers out there.

Adobe is hoping to play a little SHOW and TELL with PHP developers. We SHOW you what we are working on, you TELL us if you think we've got it right. Please take a minute to complete the survey we have posted here: http://www.surveymonkey.com/s.asp?u=540413426135

If they think you're a good match, they'll get in contact with you. There's also a gratuity of $150 to compensate for your time for the talk.

Matthew Magain has some interesting observations over on the SitePoint Ruby on Rails blog today - specifically that PHP developers are the most likely (out of those working with other web-based languages out there) to make the switch to Ruby on Rails.

Of all the graphs in The State of Web Development 2006/2007 report that SitePoint and Ektron published recently, the one that stood out the most to me was the one showing the platform currently being used by developers planning to start using Ruby on Rails.

It wasn't the fact that the graph shows PHP developers to be likely to start using Rails-this makes sense, as someone is more likely to experiment with another open source platform if they're already using another open source platform-it was the fact that PHP developers are more than three times as likely to start using Rails, even more so than Java developers!

Unfortunately, the study mentioned isn't too cheap, otherwise it would be interesting to see the info behind this graph....

A new group is being proposed in this post from Ben Ramsey, this one from Ligaya Turmelle, and these comments from Elizabeth Naramore - a gathering of the female PHP programmers out there.

From Ligaya and Elizabeth:

We started talking about the number of women in PHP world. Elizabeth Naramore and I know we aren't the only ones (between the 2 of us we could count ~10 other women in the PHP world). There have got to be more then that. So if you are a woman and a PHP developer - stand up and be counted.

We think it would be a great idea to start a women's group for PHP programmers and we want to know who's with us. We've all noticed the lack of females at conferences, user groups, and in print - let's get together and change those numbers, shall we?

If you're interested in this kind of group, you can send off an email to Elizabeth at elizabeth _at_ naramore _dot_ net or just post a comment to this entry over on Ligaya's blog.

The Zend Developer Zone also has their perspective posted today, talking about how the idea was formed and the above discussions on the topic.

Elizabeth Smith has also shared a few thoughts with the community on the "women of PHP" idea.

Mike Potter has posted an update on the status that Adobe is making for developers, including some new offerings for PHPers.

Over the last several months, Adobe has made enormous progress with software developers. In the few short months since the Macromedia acquisition, we have released new products, opened access to SDKs and continued to create communities of open source software.

We released two RIA SDKs: one for PHP developers and one for Ruby on Rails developers. Both of those are free, as in speech. Head to Google Code for the PHP RIA SDK by Adobe or the Ruby on Rails RIA SDK by Adobe. Join the mailing list for either of them (PHP, Ruby), they're fairly active.

It's great to see a larger company taking such an interest in the dynamic web languages out there and providing good, solid tools for thier developers to use to create bigger and better applications.