Session Cessation
You may have come across a problem in PHP where user sessions (ie, from $_SESSION) expire earlier than you expect. Now, there’s many different settings that can affect PHP sessions. Besides any...
View ArticlePHP5: Anonymous Functions
Lately I had to do some work for the status.arrowquick.com website that involved learning about anonymous functions. What I needed to do was add the appropriate CSS class to each hyperlink inside a bit...
View ArticlePHP5: Objects and OOP
Like everything else in the language, PHP doesn’t claim to achieve the level of “purity” that you’ll find in true OO languages. It’s really just an extension of the existing syntax. Object Basics...
View ArticlePHP5: Arrays
PHP5 adds some new functions for working with arrays. Here’s an overview. array_combine() takes 2 arrays — one with keys and one with the values — and combines them into a single key-based array...
View ArticlePHP5: Autoloading
In version 5, PHP added a “magic” function for the convenience of class loading. Typically what we’ve done is something like this: include 'MyClass1.php'; include 'MyClass2.php'; $obj = new MyClass1();...
View ArticlePHP5: Namespaces
In version 5, PHP finally puts its toe into the namespace water. What Are Namespaces? If you’ve worked in other languages like C++ or Java, you know what namespaces are good for: primarily, they’re to...
View ArticlePHP5: Time/Date
PHP5 has some new tricks up its sleeve when it comes to dates and times. Most of these additions come in the form of new functions. First off, PHP5 adds date_sunrise() and date_sunset(). As you might...
View ArticlePHP5: Type Hinting
PHP5 introduces limited type hinting, sort of a concession to strong typing. You can tell a function that a parameter should be an array or a certain class: function test(OtherClass $otherclass) { echo...
View ArticlePHP5: MySQL
PHP5 has added some new interfaces for MySQL. MySQLi The old MySQL extension is not really intended for MySQL versions above 4.1.3. Instead, you should use the MySQLi extension (“i” for “improved”)...
View ArticlePHP5: Images
PHP5 only has a few new functions relating to graphics, but they’re useful ones. First is image_type_to_extension(), which returns the file extension for a given image type (such as what’s returned by...
View ArticlePHP5: Errors & Exceptions
PHP5 adds a bit to its error model, plus adds a completely new model for exceptions. Errors PHP5 has a few new error codes. There’s E_STRICT, which will “suggest changes to your code which will ensure...
View ArticlePHP5: Strings
Let’s take a look at the new functionality that PHP5 adds for working with strings. New Functions The str_split() function splits a string into an array of chunks. This is like explode(), preg_split(),...
View ArticlePHP5: Protocols & Wrappers
PHP has provided various built-in wrappers and protocols for a while, but PHP5 adds a few extras. Wrappers allow you to operate on resources as if they were regular local files. So, you can use...
View ArticlePHP5: More New Functions
Here are some new functions in PHP5 that don’t fit into any particular category. Fun With HTTP Headers Want to know what HTTP headers have been sent to the browser (or will be sent)? Now you can, using...
View ArticlePHP5: Miscellaneous
As I wrap-up this series of articles, let’s take a look at some new features in PHP5 that didn’t fit anywhere else and may have marginal usefulness. Ternary Shorthand You may be familiar with the ?:...
View ArticlePHP5: Extensions
I thought I’d finish up by mentioning some of the extensions built into PHP5. There are many other extensions that can be added from a 3rd-party library or PECL extension. A lot of these existed in...
View ArticlePHP5: SPL
The Standard PHP Library is “a collection of interfaces and classes that are meant to solve standard problems”. It’s technically an extension, but it’s included by default and can’t be disabled, so...
View ArticleTracing Spam from PHP Scripts
In a perfect world, everyone would keep their websites updated with the latest software. But because it’s not a perfect world, web servers are prime targets for attackers looking for easy exploits....
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