What can PHP do?

I feel like foo

[grandpa]

It seems like PHP is even better than duct tape. From games to blogs to commerce ,is there no end to what can be done with it?

I'm creating a backend system on our localhost that will process email sales orders and create csv files for customers and sales orders that will be imported into our accounting system. Tied into that will be another project that allows us to print pre-selected labels on demand for each order. All kinds of fun... and all controlled from a local menu system. The idea is to let the mouse do all the work, or much of it anyway.

Of course, this all comes with a considerable amount of 'unseen' work, in the way of transaction tables, batch controls, file management, inventory management and so on. Just the sort of thing that, as a programmer, I live and breathe for. So, in a foo sort of way, what are some your more memorable projects?

Did they end up they way you envisioned them at the beginning?

Are they still running?

Could you go back and modify one of the scripts without having to start from scratch trying to figure out what you did?

Would you ever tell anyone that you wrote it?

[RussellC]

I went from not knowing a programming language or anyting about php or mysql, to experimenting and making a simple message board. Then it turned into a client tracking, inventory logging, sales/lead tracking, accounting reporting, email generating, partner managing, credit card billing, invoice generating machine that we couldn't live without. I love PHP.

[jatar_k]

memorable projects, hmmm

1. it never ends up as you envisioned it, if it it does, you missed something
2. the majority of the things I have written are still up and running, even the first thing I ever touched is still up.
3. that would really depend, I know there are some that would take some time to reacquaint myself with, some recent ones that I have highly tweaked/optimized would be the worst and these are the most recent ones I have done
4. I might laugh while doing so but I am not ashamed or embarassed about anything I have done and would admit it.

[mincklerstraat]

3. I recently began working on a project that I'd backburnered many many months ago. It was something that had been written hastily, as a part of another project which was never completed. However, it became more and more interesting, and outgrowing its current form. I thought I'd add the features I wanted to it, but the code was written so fast it wasn't really readable. I ended up rewriting it from scratch, without even looking at the original, this time taking care to document everything and establish simple, generalizable API's for new modules instead of using kluge glue. This has turned out to be really essential - the project is getting complicated enough that I sometimes need the 'user hints' that are built into the gui to remember what the gui is doing, and use it properly. But the code is legible and documented in lots of comments, so the coding part is very easy to add to.

This is one of the dangers of PHP. It's so easy to write code that works that it's very tempting to write code that isn't possible to follow any more.

I've had the privilige of seeing some of grandpa's php and must say he's quite the coding whiz, not afraid to go out charting new territories.

[dreamcatcher]

3. I tend to use classes and re-use them as much as possible, that way I always remember what its supposed to do.

My memory isn`t a thing to be relied upon. :)

[mincklerstraat]

You sure do, Dreamcatcher. Your coding is some of the neatest I've seen. Very nice.

This question #3 reminds me of some code 'touching up' I've done. You know code part A, part B, and part C work - but someone wants the functionality of part A in part B, and you realize that a portion of the code of part B will then have to be added to part C to work -

at a certain point you feel like Mr. Frankenstein creating his monster out of different body parts which were never meant to be together, but forced together by the will of the programmer. You take a lively whole, dissect it, and from the parts thereof try to resuscitate a completely different living whole, albeit from previously living, similar body parts. There is something faintly revolting about this whole type of operation, however much time it is supposed to save in not coding afresh.

[dreamcatcher]

Your coding is some of the neatest I've seen. Very nice.

Thanks mincklerstraat, thats very kind of you to say so. I try and keep things tidy, because at the end of the day, you are only making it more harder for yourself. I discovered that in the early stages when I kept getting parse errors. :)

[grandpa]

3) I've become much better at documenting my source. Reviewing 1200+ lines of code, 60 lines at a time, can get.. irritatingly frustrating.

Starting with this new local system, I'm creating documentation for lists of tables and their definitions, handy console commands, and other development notes. They're all available from the main menu. It's already been handy to have.

Memorable/milestone projects:

Converting my link directory to a PHP/MySQL system with complete controls. Adding a few entries to a form updates any page in a few seconds... no more editing. Deletes are a mouse click away. Works with banners or text. It's also one of the least used programs I've written. But it works great!

Custom logging. Log files are at the bottom of our food chain.. they don't produce revenue! I believe in them anyway, enough to have collected some decent stats.

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