The SitePoint PHP blog has a new tutorial posted showing you how to explore GitHubs public events through the GitHub API and handled via the Google BigQuery infrastructure taking the burden off your own systems.

If you’ve been following along with my previous articles about Github’s API, you know that Github’s developers are doing their best to ease the pain of interacting with Github data. In this article, we’re going to take a look at the Github public events API and we will build a small demo along the way.

They start off with a brief introduction to both GiHub events (like pushes, merges, etc) and the BigQuery system and the problem it solves. They use a stock Laravel framework-based application (on a Homestead Improved VM) and add in the Google API credentials and a BigQueryServiceProvider using Google's own client to make the connection. They also set up a middleware authentication mechanism to redirect the user if they're not authenticated. They then move over to the BigQuery side and show how to use it's web-based console to perform queries and view results. They then translate this over to a simple "top ten" query, listing the top repositories ordered by number of forks. Building on this, they add in a simple form that allows the user to specify the language to search for (PHP, Javascript, etc) and outputs the results via a Blade template.

Brian Deshong has a new post to his site sharing some of the content (videos) from his upcoming CoderFaire Atlanta (April 20th) talk about web application performance that he's learned over his years in development.

Back in March, I gave a new talk at Atlanta PHP: "Top Ten List: PHP and Web Application Performance". This talk is a culmination of my ~14 years of experience primarily as a web application developer, but also as a systems administrator / DevOps-type. After working with PHP and web applications for so many years, I have amassed quite a few tricks for squeezing maximum performance out of web applications, PHP or otherwise.

The tips are presented by various people from around the web development (and PHP) community and relate to things like:

• Realpath cache settings
• Using offline processing
• Optimized queries
• Gzipping responses
• Caching everything
• Using a content delivery network

If you'd like to see Brian present the full talk, there's still time to get your ticket for CoderFaire - they're only $50 USD for the two day event.

On Developer.com there's a new article with what they think are the top ten PEAR packages that every developer should know and use in their applications.

PHP developers also have another community-driven treasure trove at their disposal, one which is host to almost 600 high-quality libraries yet never seems to garner the attention it deserves. I'm referring to the PHP Extension and Application Repository, better known as PEAR, and in this article I'll try to shine the spotlight just a bit brighter on this fantastic community resource by highlighting 10 useful PEAR libraries (better known as packages) that have become an indispensable part of my programming toolkit.

Included in their list of "Top Ten" are things like:

• Authenticating Users with Auth
• Cleaning Up Your Code with PHP_Beautifier
• Downloading Files with HTTP_Download
• Enforcing Coding Standards with CodeSniffer
• Managing Git Repositories with VersionControl_Git

On the SitePoint PHP blog today there's a new post from Craig Buckler looking at his top ten MySQL mistakes he as a PHP developer has made over time (and suggests a few things so they can keep from making them again).

database is a fundamental component for most web applications. If you're using PHP, you're probably using MySQL - an integral part of the LAMP stack. PHP is relatively easy and most new developers can write functional code within a few hours. However, building a solid, dependable database takes time and expertise. Here are 10 of the worst MySQL mistakes I've made (some apply to any language/database).

Some of the infamous mistakes that made the list include:

• Using PHP's mysql functions (instead of mysqli)
• Not sanitizing user input
• Not using UTF-8
• Not optimizing your queries
• Using * in SELECT queries

On PHPBuilder.com today Voja Janjic has written up a "top ten" list of the most useful Joomla components you can use for your Joomla-based site.

Joomla, the PHP-based, open-source content management system (CMS), has grown in popularity thanks to its wealth of templates, modules and components, as well as its ease of installation. In this article I present the most useful Joomla components I have found in my Web development. They cover everything from e-commerce to internationalization to SEO

Components that made the list include:

• JCE (content editor)
• JoomFish (multilingual features)
• FlexBanner
• AdsManager

Each item has a brief description of what it does and a link of where to find the latest version.

The PHP::Impact blog has a new post that overviews the plugin system that the Symfony framework has to offer.

If you want to use the power of the Rails framework without having to learn Ruby, then Symfony is the right framework for you. After spending more than 10 months playing around with Rails, I can say that Symfony is a great alternative to Rails for programmers who already know PHP.

He talks about what a plugin is, how its used by the framework, the simple installation process and a "top ten" list of some of the most popular plugins (including sfGuardPlugin, sfSimpleForm and sfControlPanel).

There's two new posts out there that anyone involved with Open Source projects would do well to check out - one from Tobias Schlitt and the other from Greg Beaver.

Coming first, Tobias' post talks about what he considers the "Ten Golden Rules" for starting out in the Open Source community. Included in the list are things like:

• Stick to your level of Karma
• Don't overrate yourself
• Flaming is bad

...and more. Check out the full post for more.

In a response/continuance of this theme, Greg - his own list of rules developers should take to heart when working in and around Open Source applications. Some selections from his list:

• If you must criticize, criticize with a gentle and humble tone
• Despite the evidence, it's probably your fault
• Assume everything you ever say will become permanent and don't say things that will come back to haunt you

That last one's my personal favorite - be sure to check out both lists for some great thoughts from both of these developers.

There's two new posts out there that anyone involved with Open Source projects would do well to check out - one from Tobias Schlitt and the other from Greg Beaver.

Coming first, Tobias' post talks about what he considers the "Ten Golden Rules" for starting out in the Open Source community. Included in the list are things like:

• Stick to your level of Karma
• Don't overrate yourself
• Flaming is bad

...and more. Check out the full post for more.

In a response/continuance of this theme, Greg - his own list of rules developers should take to heart when working in and around Open Source applications. Some selections from his list:

• If you must criticize, criticize with a gentle and humble tone
• Despite the evidence, it's probably your fault
• Assume everything you ever say will become permanent and don't say things that will come back to haunt you

That last one's my personal favorite - be sure to check out both lists for some great thoughts from both of these developers.

The JSLabs website has posted a new list of what they see as the current Top Ten of PHP frameworks out there. It differs slightly from the previous list, including some of the newcomers and dropping some that have fallen behind.

Added to the list were:

• symfony
• Zend Framework
• CakePHP
• Code Igniter
• Prado

And dropped from the list were:

• eZ publish
• Krill
• php-booba
• edit-x
• Binary Cloud

Each of the frameworks in the list have a brief description to give you a feel for what the project is all about.

The JSLabs website has posted a new list of what they see as the current Top Ten of PHP frameworks out there. It differs slightly from the previous list, including some of the newcomers and dropping some that have fallen behind.

Added to the list were:

• symfony
• Zend Framework
• CakePHP
• Code Igniter
• Prado

And dropped from the list were:

• eZ publish
• Krill
• php-booba
• edit-x
• Binary Cloud

Each of the frameworks in the list have a brief description to give you a feel for what the project is all about.