August – Templates Revisited

Well, its official…the Saturday experiment was a complete success! Thanks to all who attended! For those who didn’t you can read up on what you missed.

First off…my apologies on the delay. I finally have some time from my sister’s place in Maryland. Apparently I have to leave town to update the pug. 😉

Originally, we were going to extend on our Design Patterns talk by discussing the Article: Industrial Strength MVC by Jason Sweat. Instead, we mostly just focused on a re-introduction to the smarty templating engine.

We focused on the smarty crash course from the smarty site. We also hashed over the pros and cons of templates vs. includes vs. just plain embedded php.

If you are interested in templates in general, there is a very interesting blog entry Template Criteria written by Jason at phpcomplete.com. Smarty is only one of many, so if it is just too much for your project, feel free to look at others such as the PEAR template classes. If you have a favorite, be sure to add it as a comment!!

Great News!! We can be found at kcpug.org

Thanks to the generosity of Noah Dunker, you can now use http://kcpug.org to get to the site. I’ll be updating the apache config shortly to change the ServerName. You can continue to use the pug.jccc.net address, but kcpug.org is just so much cooler. THANKS NOAH!!

Noah also pointed out the dirt cheep regestration prices at godaddy.com Just incase you are like me and wanting to carve out some personal space on the web.

php{con West 2003

We also announced the php{con West 2003 (as you can see now on the site). If you go out tp their sponsors page, you can see the KC PUG add that Mark Zolton created for us. Thanks for the excellent and amusing take on our little pug.

Door Prize Giveaway

We also did our random drawing (a little more organized this time, mind you) and through pure luck of the draw Noah’s number was picked. He selected the copy of the PHP Cookbook donated by O’reilly’s User Group Program. Way to go Noah!

Final Time and Place

Last but not least, we of course discussed the new meeting time and place. I don’t want to ask php.net to move our time until we are sure…but after this last meeting….we seemed pretty sure. Please vote and comment with the poll on the main page.

That’s all for now. See you at the next PUG Meeting!!

Online Registration opens for php-con West 2003, October 21-24, Santa Clara, California

From our Friends at php{con:

php-con returns to the San Francisco Bay Area with new sessions, the gurus of PHP and a whole new day of PHP-intensive learning. Log on to http://www.php-con.com today for program details and online registration.

php-con West 2003: Community. Code. Solutions.

Why is php-con the destination of choice for PHP and web developers? Because php-con is about three things: Community. Code. Solutions.

Community. PHP developers all share a common goal: Getting the most out of the Web. And php-con is the where the PHP developer community comes together to advance that goal.

Code. php-con program packs in full-day tutorials, three tracks of technical sessions and the all-day developer marathon: The php-con Code Sprint. Write, debug and test your code along side PHP’s finest.

Solutions. php-con is where you will find everything you need related to robust, rapid applications development, standards and best practices: MySQL, PostgreSQL, XML, PEAR, Webservices, PHP-Gtk, PHP/GD, testing and debugging, performance tuning, and extending PHP.

Don’t wait to secure your space at php-con! Early Bird Registration discounts end on September 26, 2003. Register online today at http://www.php-con.com. Information on student discounts are available on our registration page.

** Information, Questions and Comments **

Want to stay on top of PHPCon news? Sign up for our php-con Announce List and get the latest information. Click on http://www.php-con.com and scroll down to our “php-con Announce List” section to subscribe. Or email Monica Ortiz at [email protected].

Newsletter: August 21, 2003

================================================
O'Reilly News for User Group Members
August 21, 2003
================================================
----------------------------------------------------------------
Book News
----------------------------------------------------------------
-Amazon Hacks
-TiVo Hacks
-CVS Pocket Reference, 2nd Edition
----------------------------------------------------------------
Upcoming Events
----------------------------------------------------------------
-Derrick Story ("Digital Video Pocket Guide" & "iPhoto 2:The Missing
Manual,") North Bay Multimedia Association, Novato, CA--August 28
-Correction***Jesse Liberty ("Programming C#" & "Programming ASP.NET"),
Cape Cod .NET User Group, Hyannis, MA--August 23
----------------------------------------------------------------
Conferences
----------------------------------------------------------------
-Great T-Shirt Exchange
----------------------------------------------------------------
Safari
----------------------------------------------------------------
-"Go On Safari" Tip of the Week Winner--Garrett Goebel, 
Kansas City Perl Mongers
----------------------------------------------------------------
News
----------------------------------------------------------------
-Dispelling the Myth of Wireless Security
-Rob Flickenger on SeattleWireless TV
-Trademarks by Cory Doctorow
-Guido van Rossum Speaks
-PHP Security, Part 1
-FreeBSD Access Control Lists
-Making Media from Scratch, Part 1
-Service-Oriented Architecture Explained
-Low Bandwidth SOAP
-Integrating QuickTime with Cocoa
----------------------------------------------------------------
News From Your Peers
----------------------------------------------------------------
-SUCON '03 - Swiss Unix Conference 2003, Zurich, Switzerland--
September 5

================================================
Book News
================================================
Did you know you can request a free book to review for your group?
Ask your group leader for more information.

For writing book review tips and suggestions, go to:
http://ug.oreilly.com/bookreviews.html

Don't forget, you can receive 20% off any O'Reilly book your purchase
directly from O'Reilly. Just use code DSUG when ordering online or by
phone.  
http://www.oreilly.com/


***Free ground shipping is available for online orders of at least
$29.95 that go to a single U.S. address. This offer applies to U.S.
delivery addresses in the 50 states and Puerto Rico.  
For more details, go to:
http://www.oreilly.com/news/freeshipping_0703.html


***Amazon Hacks
Order Number: 5423
"Amazon Hacks" is a collection of real-world tips, tricks, and
full-scale solutions to practical uses of Amazon.com and the Amazon Web
Services API. The book offers a variety of interesting ways for power
users to get the most out of Amazon and its community, for Associates
to hone their recommendations for better linking and more referral
fees, for researchers to mine the enormous amount of information in
Amazon's data store, and for developers to integrate Amazon Web
Services into their applications and services.
http://www.oreilly.com/catalog/amazonhks/?CMP=NLC-ZL2148071462

A collection of sample hacks is available online:
http://hacks.oreilly.com/pub/ht/24


***TiVo Hacks
Order Number: 5539
"TiVo Hacks" covers tips for changing the order of recorded programs,
activating the 30-second skip to blaze through commercials, and more,
by using magical remote-control codes. Then, once you take the lid off
your TiVo, you will learn how to gain even more fun and functionality.
You can upgrade the hard drive for more hours of recording. Log in to
the serial port for command-line access to programming data, log files,
closed-captioning data, display graphics on the TiVo screen, and even
play MP3s. While TiVo gives viewers personalized control of their TVs,
TiVo Hacks gives users personalized control of TiVo.
http://www.oreilly.com/catalog/tivohks/?CMP=NLC-U9N383213924

A collection of sample hacks is available online::
http://www.oreilly.com/catalog/tivohks/chapter/index.html


****CVS Pocket Reference, 2nd Edition
Order Number: 5679
Much more than a quick list of commands and options, "CVS Pocket
Reference, 2nd Edition," is packed with a surprising amount of
detail--including an overview of background concepts, thorough
descriptions on how to use and administer a CVS repository, and
discussions of CVS-related files and how to manage them--all in a
convenient reference format. It's an absolute must for developers who
need an on-the-job guide for quick answers to CVS dilemmas.
http://www.oreilly.com/catalog/cvspr2/?CMP=NLC-CM0248058677

A Sample Excerpt, "Administrator Commands," is available online:
http://www.oreilly.com/catalog/cvspr2/chapter/index.html

================================================
Upcoming Events
================================================
***For more events, please see:
http://events.oreilly.com/

***Derrick Story ("Digital Video Pocket Guide," "iPhoto 2:The Missing
Manual,") North Bay Multimedia Association, Novato, CA--August 28
Author Derrick Story will be speaking about "The Blurred Line Between
Digital Photography and Video." The cost is free to NBMA members; $10
for non-members, $5 for students with valid ID.
http://www.nbma.com/events/art_8-03.html

Thursday, August 28, 2003
Networking at 6:30 PM; Program from 7-9:00 PM
Marin Community Foundation
Hangar #5
5 Hamilton Landing
Novato, CA
For directions to this meeting go to:
http://www.nbma.com/events/art_8-03.html#directions_mcf


***Correction***Jesse Liberty ("Programming C#" & "Programming ASP.NET"), 
Cape Cod .NET User Group, Cape Cod, MA--August 23
Author Jesse Liberty presents an all-day "crash course" on ASP.NET for
the Cape Cod .NET User Group. If interested, please go to following
website for pre-registration instructions and location information. You
must be registered ahead of time for this event.
http://www.ccdevgroup.net/

================================================
Conference News
================================================
***Great T-Shirt Exchange
Is your closet overflowing with unworn tradeshow schwag? Then scour
your drawers and bring all those tees that haven't seen the light of
day to the Great T-Shirt Exchange at our Mac OS X Conference. We'll
have a special table at the conference where you can put your unused(!)
Mac t-shirt--or any other branded tee--and swap it for any other tee
that catches your eye.
http://conferences.oreillynet.com/pub/w/25/events.html

The Second Annual O'Reilly Mac OS X Conference 
User Group members who register before September 12, 2003 get a double
discount. Use code DSUG when you register, and receive 20% off the
"Early Bird" price.

To register, go to:
http://conferences.oreillynet.com/cs/macosx2003/create/ord_mac03

O'Reilly Mac OS X Conference
October 27-30, 2003
Westin Santa Clara, Santa Clara, CA
http://conferences.oreilly.com/macosxcon/

================================================
Safari News
================================================
***"Go On Safari" Tip of the Week Winner--Garrett Goebel, Kansas City
Perl Mongers 
"The user interface of the service is fairly flexible and intuitive. My
favorite is the 'hide' tab that clears off most of the visible screen
space to let you get down to some serious reading. I also have found to
my surprise, that I may actually read some texts faster on monitor than
in hand. And while I must admit there is still something to pulling a
text down off the shelf and flipping through the pages, it is certainly
nice when I don't have to lug ten pounds of paper back and forth from
the office when I'm reading up on a particular subject or technology."

You can also participate in this introductory program just for user
group members. To "Go on Safari," any UG member who signs up for our
Safari 14-day free trial can send comments on their experiences, or
tips and tricks for how they used Safari  (it only needs to be 2
sentences long, but it may be longer) to [email protected].
(Please include your UG name in the email.)

Every week someone will be chosen from the tips or comments submitted
to receive fun stuff from O'Reilly (T-shirts, book bags, or other
surprises). If a member of your user group is selected, your group
receives free gifts, too. Whatever the individual member receives, your
UG will get one, too, to give away at your next meeting, or use however
you see fit. Recipients--and their comments--will be announced in the
User Group Newsletter.

**Please use this special UG URL to sign up for the 14-day trial**
http://www.oreilly.com/safari/ug

For more information on Safari:
http://safari.oreilly.com/
================================================
News From O'Reilly & Beyond
================================================
---------------------
General News
---------------------
***Dispelling the Myth of Wireless Security
Rob Flickenger shows how to find out just how "secure" your standard
wireless network really is in this excerpt from his soon-to-release
"Wireless Hacks."
http://www.oreillynet.com/pub/a/wireless/excerpt/wirlsshacks_chap1/index.html?CMP=NLC-UI6243101723

Wireless Hacks
Order Number: 5598
http://www.oreilly.com/catalog/wirelesshks/


***And Don't Miss Rob Flickenger on SeattleWireless TV
The August installment of Seattle Wireless TV, which features an
interview with Rob Flickenger, as well as a discussion on a cool
remote-controlled helicopter with a wireless video feed, and reviews of
some of the latest wireless gear.  
http://tv.seattlewireless.net/


***Trademarks
Cory Doctorow, who works with the EFF, wrote this article on the heels
of a rash of trademark incidents that he's encountered. His point of
view in this opinion piece is that trademark and copyright are supposed
to promote expression. He doesn't write about any specific details of
particular cases; rather, he restates an overview of these issues that
serves as his guiding light.
http://www.openp2p.com/pub/a/p2p/2003/08/14/trademarks.html?CMP=NLC-201PL0259145

---------------------
Open Source
---------------------
***Guido van Rossum Speaks
Guido van Rossum, creator of the Python programming language, recently
announced that he'll be leaving PythonLabs to work for a California
startup. In this interview, Guido talks about the move, recent
developments, and Python in general.
http://www.onlamp.com/pub/a/python/2003/08/14/gvr_interview.html?CMP=NLC-WR2218661818


***PHP Security, Part 1
If you have users, you'll undoubtedly have bad guys trying to break
things. As a PHP developer, it's your responsibility to make sure your
code is secure. John Coggeshall demonstrates one common PHP error that
can leave you vulnerable, and he explains how to think like a bad guy
to prevent these mistakes in the first place.
http://www.onlamp.com/pub/a/php/2003/07/31/php_foundations.html


***FreeBSD Access Control Lists
The Unix permissions model has worked for decades due to its flexible
simplicity. It's not the only approach, though. FreeBSD 5.0 supports
Access Control Lists, which allow for more flexible permissions. Daniel
Harris explains what ACLs can make easier.
http://www.onlamp.com/pub/a/bsd/2003/08/14/freebsd_acls.html

---------------------
Java
---------------------
*** Making Media from Scratch, Part 1
QuickTime is a media creation API. It supports far more than just
editing and playing movies -- you can create them, one frame at a time.
Chris Adamson demonstrates how to make moves from scratch with
QuickTime for Java.
http://www.onjava.com/pub/a/onjava/2003/08/13/qtj_reintro.html?CMP=NLC-3RH891419319

---------------------
.NET
---------------------
***Service-Oriented Architecture Explained
SOA (service-oriented architecture) has become a buzzword of late.
Although the concepts behind SOA have been around for over a decade
now, SOA has gained extreme popularity of late due to web services.
Before we dive in and talk about what SOA is and what are the
essentials behind SOA, it is a useful first step to look back at the
evolution of SOA. To do that, we have to simply look at the challenges
developers have faced over the past few decades and observe the
solutions that have been proposed to solve their problems.
http://www.ondotnet.com/pub/a/dotnet/2003/08/18/soa_explained.html

---------------------
XML
---------------------
***Low Bandwidth SOAP
Using web services on low resource J2ME devices is possible through
Enhydra.org's KSOAP classes. This article shows you how to create
lightweight web service clients and servers.
http://webservices.xml.com/pub/a/ws/2003/08/19/ksoap.html

---------------------
Mac
---------------------
***Integrating QuickTime with Cocoa
After providing a brief QuickTime overview, Doug Welton shows you how
to integrate digital media with Cocoa, then finishes up with an example
of building a QuickTime Movie Player that you can include in your own
applications.
http://www.macdevcenter.com/pub/a/mac/2003/08/15/quicktime_cocoa.html?CMP=NLC-YU0540798564

================================================
News From Your Peers
================================================'
***SUCON '03 - Swiss Unix Conference 2003, Zurich, Switzerland--September 5
The Swiss Unix Conference is taking place for the first time. It is
about education intended for open-minded individuals interested in the
Unix environment. The conference brings together developers, system
administrators, and others interested in the Unix operating system and
Unix related topics.  
http://www.sucon.ch/

SUCON '03
September 5, 2003
Kongresshaus Zurich, Switzerland
For Program details go to:
http://www.sucon.ch/sucon/03/grid.html


Until next time--

Marsee

July – Classes and Objects Revisited

The July meeting was by far the most fun I have had since we began. We sat down, introduced ourselves (there were plenty of new faces, even if most of the "regulars" didn’t show. 😉 ) and started talking about classes.

There was no formalized presentation, no stuffy classroom…just a pad of paper, lots of discussion and questions and a great time.

A Big Thanks to all of you who showed up. With any luck, we will have an even bigger turnout in August!!!

We did discuss times…and we might be able to try to push it up to 3:30. Would that help any of you make it? Please reply here.

New, experimental meeting time.

Spirits, Coffee and PHP: all at the next PUG.

Please read on for more

UPDATE: Fri Aug 15 15:19:21 CDT 2003 – dholmes

As discussed last month, the meeting time for August 16th has been moved to 2:00. I’ll still be there at 1:30, since I didn’t get this out earlier. Wouldn’t want anyone sitting around by their lonesome. 😉

This month we are going to try something new. At the meeting in June, we discussed the PUG and its future. Many of us feel that the month-after-month classroom setting is “sucking the life force” out of the group…slowly turning it into a mini convention seminar. Presentations are good but it’s not really the social learning-exchange that many of us were hoping for.

Therefore, for the next couple of months, we are going to try something a little different. Our user-group will not be meeting at the college, instead we will be meeting at the Daily Dose Coffee House and Bar at 135th and Quivera.

Not only does this place have a great atmosphere with full-service coffee and “specialty” drinks…it has the much needed feature of free Wi-Fi.

I know that the “groups preference” (according to the poll) is for an evening time. Unfortunately for us, this place is completely jammed in the evenings. However, Saturday afternoons are very quiet.

So, as an experiment we will be meeting up on the third Saturday of July and August (for now) at the Daily Dose starting at 1:30pm.

This month we will be multi-round-table discussing the basics of classes in PHP; a quick intro, then an open discussion on how we use them to separate our logic. (Thanks for the topic suggestion, bodie.) I’ll also bring my Design Patterns book, to add to the discussion; feel free to bring whatever you would like as well.

This will then lead into August’s topic of Separating Logic from Presentation with Smarty: Or How I Learned to Stop Worrying and and Love the Model-View-Controller Pattern. (Thank you skatterbean.)

I look forward to seeing you there!!!

For more information on the Daily Dose such as a map and which credit cards they take, you can check out their entry at opkansas.org.

I’ll also be sending this out in an email to all of you who have “signed up” with the site or the message boards. If you don’t want to be included in future mailing, just send me a message, and I’ll try to figure something out. 😉

SQLite and Choosing a Database Abstraction Layer

So, have you heard of this new SQLite embedded database? I was just reading about it the other day.

SQLite is a C library that implements an embeddable SQL database engine. Programs that link with the SQLite library can have SQL database access without running a separate RDBMS process.


Apparently they are going to implement it in the next version of PHP. This is a good thing. Sure, it will be slow and simplistic, and probably not very scalable for heavy use, but it has one thing going for it: distribution. Every PHP installation will have it. Have you ever been writing a program that will be distribute to multiple clients and worried that they won’t have the right database installed? or any database installed? Soon you won’t have to worry, because as long as they have PHP, they will have SQLite.

So now the possibility of using this in the future on servers that aren’t my own has intrigued me. And I’m already intrigued by some of the other free databases out there. I’ve heard PostgreSQL development is really doing well and more and more people prefer it to MySQL. I’ve also heard a little about some new database called Firebird or something like that. So… why am I still coding all my PHP applications with mysql_query() functions? Why am I not using a database abstraction library so that I can easily use my applications with any database I choose? That’s a very good question. Maybe I’m stupid, or simply too lazy to try something new. I’ve thought about it a lot over the past few weeks. I think my biggest fear with choosing a library to use is standards. I know that the built-in mysql functions are going to be around for a while. I don’t know if I can say the same thing about some of these database abstraction layers. Some might claim that PEAR DB is the standard since it comes packaged with PHP. But there is also another called DBX that comes with PHP. So does that make it the standard too?

I just read an interesting forum thread where John Lim, author of ADODB, claims that PEAR DB is obsolete and the new versions are breaking backward compatibility.


Tomas worked hard on PEAR DB, but it was made obsolete by PEAR MDB. It would not have been too much trouble to make MDB compatible with PEAR DB. ADODB has a PEAR DB layer, but Lukas (MDB lead) decided against it. In fact, they are still releasing PEAR DB as the default abstraction layer, so more people are going to hate the switch when MDB becomes the default standard.

Now Lukas has decided that MDB 2.0 will break MDB 1.0 compatibility.

I think Lukas is a smart guy, but i don’t think it wise to treat API’s as toys to play with, particularly if you want to bet your company’s products on a software library.

http://news.php.net/article.php?group=php.pear.dev&article=17793

So long as PEAR remains a coders playground, depending on PEAR does not mean that anyone is looking after your interest either.


Maybe John Lim is just trying to get people to use his product, ADOdb, instead. But if what he says about PEAR DB is true, then thats a big “STAY CLEAR” sign to me. I’m already going to have to rewrite thousands of lines of code if I decide to switch to an abstraction layer. I don’t want to have to do it again each time they come out with a new version. That’s exactly what I am afraid of.

One thing is clear to me. I need to pick an abstraction layer soon. I’m starting new projects all the time and the longer I wait the more code I will need to rewrite later. So which to choose? Right now I think I’m leaning toward ADOdb. It is very fast, easily portable, supports almost every database out there, and has many features above and beyond what I’m used to. I’ve also been watching it for about a year and new versions are released often, but never break backwards compatibility.

Anyway, what are your guys thoughts on this?

Newsletter: June 6, 2003

O’Reilly User Group Program Newsletter June 6, 2003
Highlights This Week:
----------------------------------------------------------------
Book News
----------------------------------------------------------------
-Jakarta Struts Pocket Reference
-Practical mod_perl
-C++ Pocket Reference
----------------------------------------------------------------
Upcoming Events
----------------------------------------------------------------
-Portland Perl Mongers Meeting Starts at Powell's Tech Books, 
Portland, OR--June 11
-Derrick Story, ("iPhoto 2: The Missing Manual"), Chico Mac User Group,
Chico, CA--June 19
----------------------------------------------------------------
Conferences
----------------------------------------------------------------
-Don't miss Intel's Linux-driven Robot at OSCON
-Put Up an O'Reilly Open Source Convention Banner, 
Get a Free Book
----------------------------------------------------------------
News
----------------------------------------------------------------
-Do We Need A Bill of Rights for Web Services?
-Hacker Takes a Crack at TiVo
-Incredible Movies
-Python Success Stories: Eight True Tales of Flexibility, 
Speed, and Improved Productivity
-Saving Our Bacon: Snort Security Holes and Strategies for Safe Network
Monitoring
-Making Sense of Java's Dates
-Implementing Custom Data Bindable Classes: CollectionBase
-Designing a New Schema with XML Design Patterns
-Power Keys in Jaguar
-Rob Griffiths' Top Mac OS X Hints, Part 2
----------------------------------------------------------------
News From Your Peers
----------------------------------------------------------------
-Ed Brill at the Portland Domino/Notes User Group, Portland, OR
--June 17

================================================
Book News
================================================
Review books are available--email me for a copy.

***Please include the book order number on your requests.

Let me know if you need your books by a certain date.
Allow at least four weeks for shipping. 
Send or email me copies of your newsletters and book reviews.

Don't forget, your members get 20% off any O'Reilly book they purchase
directly from O'Reilly. Just use code DSUG when ordering.
http://www.oreilly.com/

***Group purchases with better discounts are available***
Please let me know if you are interested.

Press releases are available on our press page:
http://press.oreilly.com/


***Jakarta Struts Pocket Reference
Order Number: 5199
An essential companion to O'Reilly's "Programming Jakarta Struts,"
"Jakarta Struts Pocket Reference" provides detailed coverage of every
Struts JSP tag, the Struts configuration files and directives, built-in
actions, and a wealth of other resources.
http://www.oreilly.com/catalog/jakartapr/

A sample excerpt, "Configuring Struts," is available online:
http://www.oreilly.com/catalog/jakartapr/chapter/index.html


***Practical mod_perl
Order Number: 2270
Written for Perl web developers and web administrators, "Practical
mod_perl" is an extensive guide to the nuts and bolts of the powerful
and popular combination of Apache and mod_perl. From writing and
debugging scripts to keeping your server running without failures, the
techniques in this book will help you squeeze every ounce of power out
of your server. True to its title, this is the practical guide to
mod_perl.  
http://www.oreilly.com/catalog/pmodperl/

Chapter 6, "Coding with mod_perl in Mind," is available online:
http://www.oreilly.com/catalog/pmodperl/chapter/index.html


***C++ Pocket Reference
Order Number: 4966
"C++ Pocket Reference" is a compact memory aid for C++ programmers,
enabling them to quickly look up usage and syntax for unfamiliar and
infrequently used aspects of the language. The book will also help
programmers familiar with C or Java quickly get up to speed on how a
particular construct or concept is implemented in C++. Topics covered
include C++ types and type conversions, declarations, storage classes,
arrays, pointers, strings, and expressions.
http://www.oreilly.com/catalog/cpluspluspr/

A beta excerpt, "Statements, " is available online:
http://www.oreilly.com/catalog/cpluspluspr/chapter/index.html

===============================================
Upcoming Events
===============================================
***For more events, please see:
http://events.oreilly.com/

***Portland Perl Mongers Meeting Starts at Powell's Tech Books, 
Portland, OR--June 11
Join the Portland Perl Mongers on Wed, June 11 for an all-O'Reilly
evening, starting with books and ending with modules, with food along
the way.  
http://portland.pm.org/

Here is the agenda for the evening:

*7:00 - 8:30ish--Rael Dornfest and Rob Flickenger talk about their
O'Reilly Hacks series at Powell's Technical Books. Powell's will be
giving away a "Hacks" book with any O'Reilly book (excluding Pocket
References) purchased all day June 11.

Powell's Technical Books
33 NW Park Ave
Portland, OR
http://www.powells.com/technicalbooks

*8:45--Walk to House of Louie, order pu-pu platters and agar pudding.
House of Louie
331 NW Davis St
Portland, OR
Map: http://snurl.com/1ig0

*9:00-10:00--chromatic (technical editor of the O'Reilly Network)
speaks about Mail::SimpleList covering mail filtering, object
orientation, test-driven development, customer testing, deployment,
refactoring, and the normal ups and downs of any type of software
development.


***Derrick Story, ("iPhoto 2: The Missing Manual"), Chico Mac User Group, 
Chico, CA--June 19
Join coauthor Derrick Story for a presentation on iPhoto 2.

June 19, 2003 at 7:30pm
Masonic Family Center
1110 W East Ave
Chico, CA
http://www.macchug.com/events.html

================================================
Conference News
================================================
***Don't miss Intel's Linux-driven Robot at OSCON
Myron Hattig, senior architect at Intel Research, will discuss how
Intel is building Linux-driven robots that communicate over wireless
LANs. His session is on Friday, July 11 and he'll have one of the
robots on hand at the O'Reilly Open Source Convention.
http://conferences.oreillynet.com/cs/os2003/view/e_sess/4506

Read more about the project in an article by Jim Butler.
http://www.linuxdevices.com/articles/AT2705574735.html


**There is still time to register. User Group Members--use code DSUG
when you register and you'll get 20% off the conference pricing.

To register, go to:
http://conferences.oreillynet.com/cs/os2003/create/ord_os03


O'Reilly Open Source Convention
Portland Marriott Downtown,
Portland, OR
July 7-11, 2003
http://conferences.oreilly.com/oscon/


***Put Up an O'Reilly Open Source Convention Banner, Get A Free Book
We are looking for user groups to display our conference banners on
their web sites. If you send me the link to your user group site with
our O'Reilly Open Source Convention banner, I will send you the
O'Reilly book of your choice.

OSCON Conference Banners:
http://ug.oreilly.com/banners/oscon2003/

================================================
News From O'Reilly & Beyond
================================================
---------------------
General News
---------------------
***Do We Need A Bill of Rights for Web Services?
Tim O'Reilly's latest:You can think of open source as a kind of "bill
of rights" outlining key protections for software users and developers.
As we move into the world of web services, in which software is no
longer distributed as either binaries OR source code, but instead
performed on a remote server, what kind of bill of rights is required
to protect users? What kind of agreements will provide web services
users and developers with some of the freedoms that we have come to
expect from open source?  http://www.oreillynet.com/pub/wlg/3266


***Hacker Takes a Crack at TiVo
Breaking into your DVR isn't about stealing service--TiVo has been
really friendly to hackers in the past. Instead, hacking your TiVo is
about scoring more features and getting the services you want. This
Wired article tells you what author Raffi Krikorian has in store for
you in his upcoming book, "TiVo Hacks."
http://www.wired.com/news/technology/0,1282,59028,00.html

TiVo Hacks
Order Number: 5539
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0596005539/103-9536749-1016659
(O'Reilly catalog page should be available soon.)


***Incredible Movies
Almost 2,000 ephemeral films (industrial, educational, and advertising)
from the early 1900s through the 1960s are available for free on the
Net, thanks to film archivist Rick Prelinger.
http://www.oreillynet.com/pub/a/policy/2003/05/23/rickp.html

---------------------
Open Source
---------------------
***Python Success Stories: Eight True Tales of Flexibility, Speed, 
and Improved Productivity
The future looks bright for Python. O'Reilly's collection of stories
about successful Python-powered projects makes it easy to see why
Python isn't just a scripting language; it is being used more and more
in projects of all sizes, in all application areas.
http://www.oreillynet.com/pub/wlg/3198

Download a copy of Python Success Stories.
http://python.oreilly.com/news/python_success_stories.pdf


***Saving Our Bacon: Snort Security Holes and Strategies for Safe 
Network Monitoring
Bob Byrnes reviews past attacks and recently discovered buffer-overflow
vulnerabilities in Snort, a popular security-monitoring tool used for
detecting suspicious network activities. He also discusses strategies
you can use to minimize risks.
http://linux.oreillynet.com/pub/a/linux/2003/06/02/snort.html

Bob is a coauthor of the upcoming "Linux Security Cookbook"
Order Number: 3919
http://www.oreilly.com/catalog/linuxsckbk/index.html

---------------------
Java
---------------------
***Making Sense of Java's Dates
Measuring time is easy. Representing it is hard. Time zones,
internationalization, and localization all make it tricky to give the
correct date. Newer versions of the JDK have improved Java's date and
time APIs, but they're still a little tricky. Philipp Janert explores
date and time handling in Java.
http://www.onjava.com/pub/a/onjava/2003/06/05/java_calendar.html

---------------------
.NET
---------------------
***Implementing Custom Data Bindable Classes: CollectionBase 
By now, everyone is familiar with grabbing a DataSet from the database
and binding it at runtime to an ASP.NET list control. This works just
fine. But DataSets are weakly typed, providing late bound access to
their properties. What if you want to use your own strongly typed
custom object with meaningful properties and methods instead of a
generic DataSet? James Still shows you how to create them for your own
classes.
http://www.ondotnet.com/pub/a/dotnet/2003/06/02/collectionbase.html

---------------------
XML
---------------------
***Designing a New Schema with XML Design Patterns
Following on from our articles on XML schema design patterns, this
article applies these patterns to the design of a new schema,
leveraging existing XML languages such as XHTML and RDF along the way.
http://www.xml.com/pub/a/2003/06/04/patterns.html

---------------------
Mac
---------------------
***Power Keys in Jaguar
David Pogue received a letter from a reader who couldn't put his Mac to
sleep. The keyboard command described in "Mac OS X: The Missing Manual,
2nd Edition" kept giving him a black screen instead. David points the
power user in the right direction in the latest "From David's Desk."
http://missingmanuals.com/david/

***Rob Griffiths' Top Mac OS X Hints, Part 2
Rob Griffiths has selected his favorite or most fun tips from his book,
"Mac OS X Hints, Jaguar Edition." In Part 2 this week, he offers tips
on speeding up iPhoto, burning a multisession CD, and more.
http://www.macdevcenter.com/pub/a/mac/2003/06/03/macosxhints.html

Mac OS X Hints: Jaguar Edition
Order Number: 4516
http://www.oreilly.com/catalog/macxhints/

================================================
News From Your Peers
================================================
***Ed Brill at the Portland Domino/Notes User Group, Portland, OR
--June 17
The Portland Domino/Notes User Group and Boom Vang Consulting present
Ed Brill, Lotus Senior Marketing Manager to discuss "The Future of
Collaborative Technologies: Lotus and the Competitive Landscape."

Tuesday, June 17, 2003
The Oregon Zoo, Skyline Room
4001 SW Canyon Road
Portland, OR 97221

Space is limited, so please RSVP by June 12.
Send a note to [email protected] or call Lauren Williams at
503-276-1590.  
For more info:  www.boomvang.com

Until next time--

Newsletter: May 29, 2003

O’Reilly User Group Program Newsletter May 29, 2003
Highlights This Week:
----------------------------------------------------------------
Book News
----------------------------------------------------------------
-Head First Java
-iPhoto 2: The Missing Manual
-Programming C#, 3rd Edition
-Games, Diversions & Perl Culture
-Cocoa in a Nutshell
-Java Database Best Practices
----------------------------------------------------------------
Upcoming Events
----------------------------------------------------------------
-Perl Whirl Geek Cruise, Hawaii--Jun 1-8, 2003  
-Mac Mania II Geek Cruise, Hawaii--Jun 1-8, 2003  
-Microsoft Tech Ed 2003, Dallas, TX--Jun 1-6, 2003  
-JavaOne, San Francisco, CA--Jun 10-13, 2003
----------------------------------------------------------------
Conferences
----------------------------------------------------------------
-New Talks at OSCON
-Put Up an O'Reilly Open Source Convention Banner, 
Get a Free Book
----------------------------------------------------------------
News
----------------------------------------------------------------
-Are you an Amazon Associate?
-Apple as Innovator
-Why Try to Out-Google Google?
-Buy Where You Shop
-Gear Up for Summer 
-Adventures with Kerberos, CVS, and GSS-API
-Apple and Linux: A Mutual Friendship?
-JBoss Optimizations 101
-Using Calculated DataColumns in ADO.NET
-Automating iPhoto 2 with AppleScript 
-A DNS Primer
----------------------------------------------------------------
News From Your Peers
----------------------------------------------------------------
-MacFeast 2003, Norwalk, CA--June 14, 2003

================================================
Book News
================================================
Review books are available--email me for a copy.

***Please include the book order number on your requests.

Let me know if you need your books by a certain date.
Allow at least four weeks for shipping. 
Send or email me copies of your newsletters and book reviews.

Don't forget, your members get 20% off any O'Reilly book they purchase
directly from O'Reilly. Just use code DSUG when ordering.
http://www.oreilly.com/

***Group purchases with better discounts are available***
Please let me know if you are interested.

Press releases are available on our press page:
http://press.oreilly.com/


***Head First Java
Order Number: 4656
You've never seen an O'Reilly book (or any other book, for that matter)
like "Head First Java." Learning well and at a deep level takes a lot
more than reading text on a page. Actively combining words and pictures
helps in both understanding a subject and remembering it. "Head First
Java" puts these ideas into practice with mind-stretching exercises,
memorable analogies, and stories, humor, and attitude that aren't
pasted-on distractions--they drive home key points and make ideas come
alive. The Head First approach is as effective as it is unique.
http://www.oreilly.com/catalog/hfjava/

Excerpts on "A Trip to Objectville" and "Serious Polymorphism" are
available online:
http://www.oreilly.com/catalog/hfjava/chapter/index.html


***iPhoto 2: The Missing Manual
Order Number: 5067
Presented by best-selling author David Pogue, this updated edition
keeps pace with Apple's recently revised digital shoebox for uploading,
organizing, printing, publishing, and touching up digital photos.
"iPhoto 2: The Missing Manual" charts the latest changes and
illustrates the interactivity among Apple's iLife software products.
With this guide, Macintosh fans can take their digital photos to the
screen, the Web, printouts, hardbound photo books, and even to DVDs,
CDs, and digital movies.  
http://www.oreilly.com/catalog/iphoto2/

Chapter 10, "Publishing a Photo," is available online:
http://www.oreilly.com/catalog/iphoto2/chapter/index.html


***Programming C#, 3rd Edition
Order Number: 4893
"Programming C#, 3rd Edition" focuses on the features and programming
patterns that are new to the C# language and fundamental to programming
web services and web applications on the .NET platform. Newly updated
for version 1.1 of the .NET Framework and Visual Studio .NET 2003, the
book features expanded coverage of events and delegates, answers to
frequently asked questions about C#, and new tips and tricks, including
some for programmers coming from VB and C++ backgrounds.
http://www.oreilly.com/catalog/progcsharp3/

Chapter 12,"Delegates and Events," is available online:
http://www.oreilly.com/catalog/progcsharp3/chapter/index.html


***Games, Diversions & Perl Culture
Order Number: 3129
This third volume of "The Best of the Perl Journal" includes some of
the most popular Perl articles ever written on the subjects of games,
diversions, and the unique culture of this close-knit community. You'll
find all of the playful features TPJ offered over the years, including
the Obfuscated Perl Contests, Perl Quiz Shows, renowned one-line
recipes, and a panoply of quirky Perl applications, such as genetic
algorithms, home automation, music programming, and natural language
processing.  
http://www.oreilly.com/catalog/tpj3/

Read "Searching for Rhymes with Perl" and "The Zeroth Annual Obfuscated
Perl Contest" online:
http://www.oreilly.com/catalog/tpj3/chapter/index.html


***Cocoa in a Nutshell
Order Number: 4621
"Cocoa in a Nutshell" begins with a complete overview of Cocoa's object
classes, and ends with a detailed quick reference. It provides
developers who may be experienced in other application toolkits with
the grounding they'll need to start developing Cocoa applications. A
complement to Apple's documentation, it is the only reference to the
classes, functions, types, constants, protocols, and methods that make
up Cocoa's Foundation and Application Kit frameworks, based on the
Jaguar release (Mac OS X 10.2).
http://www.oreilly.com/catalog/cocoaian/

Chapter 4, "Drawing and Imaging," is available online:
http://www.oreilly.com/catalog/cocoaian/chapter/index.html


***Java Database Best Practices
Order Number: 5229
"Java Database Best Practices" takes you through a variety of ways to
store and access data, enabling you to learn which "persistence model"
is most appropriate for each type of application. This unique and
comprehensive guide introduces each of the dominant APIs (Enterprise
JavaBeans, Java Data Objects, and JDBC), along with lesser-known
options. The book also explores the methodology and design components
that use those APIs, and offers practices most appropriate for
different types and makes of databases and applications.
http://www.oreilly.com/catalog/javadtabp/

Chapter 2, "Relational Data Architecture," is available online:
http://www.oreilly.com/catalog/javadtabp/chapter/index.html

===============================================
Upcoming Events
===============================================
***For more events, please see:
http://events.oreilly.com/

***Perl Whirl Geek Cruise, Hawaii--Jun 1-8, 2003  
Take a Perl Whirl Geek Cruise with authors Tim Bunce ("Programming the
Perl DBI"), Randal Schwartz ("Learning Perl"), Nathan Torkington ("Perl
Cookbook"), and Larry Wall ("Programming Perl, 3rd Ed."). Aloha!
http://www.geekcruises.com/home/pw3_home.html


***Mac Mania II Geek Cruise, Hawaii--Jun 1-8, 2003  
Have fun in the tropical sun on the Mac Mania II Geek Cruise with
authors James Duncan Davidson ("Learning Cocoa with Objective-C") and
David Pogue (Missing Manual Series).
http://www.geekcruises.com/home/mm2_home.html


***Microsoft Tech Ed 2003, Dallas, TX--Jun 1-6, 2003  
Drop by our booth, say howdy, and look over our latest publications.
http://www.microsoft.com/usa/teched/home.asp


***JavaOne, San Francisco, CA--Jun 10-13, 2003
Check out our latest Java offerings. Also, authors David Jordan and
Craig Russell ("Java Data Objects") are making the sole JDO
presentation at JavaOne.  
http://servlet.java.sun.com/javaone/

================================================
Conference News
================================================
***New Talks at OSCON 
Don't miss these newly added talks at July's Open Source Convention:
Clay Shirky and Stewart Brand on archiving digital data for the long
term; everyone's favorite Mozilla wrangler, Mitchell Baker, with a
session on Chandler; and David Fetter on why database projects fail.
http://conferences.oreillynet.com/os2003/


User Group Members--use code DSUG when you register and you'll get 20%
off the conference pricing.

To register, go to:
http://conferences.oreillynet.com/cs/os2003/create/ord_os03


O'Reilly Open Source Convention
Portland Marriott Downtown,
Portland, OR
July 7-11, 2003
http://conferences.oreilly.com/oscon/


***Put Up an O'Reilly Open Source Convention Banner, Get A Free Book
Ready for the next conference banner promotion? Here it is:  We are
looking for user groups to display our conference banners on their web
sites. If you send me the link to your user group site with our
O'Reilly Open Source Convention banner, I will send you the O'Reilly
book of your choice.

OSCON Conference Banners:
http://ug.oreilly.com/banners/oscon2003/

================================================
News From O'Reilly & Beyond
================================================
---------------------
General News
---------------------
***Are you an Amazon Associate? 
Let me know at [email protected]. We're interested in hearing about
your experiences with Amazon.


***Apple as Innovator
Tim O'Reilly's latest: Thoughts on Apple as innovator, especially as a
cultural innovator.  
http://www.oreillynet.com/pub/wlg/3246


***Why Try to Out-Google Google?
Tara Calishain writes that Google's success, at least initially, had
nothing to do with actual technology. In this article, she looks at
what has made Google a success and ways the search engine could
out-Google itself. Tara is the coauthor of O'Reilly's best-selling
"Google Hacks."
http://www.oreillynet.com/pub/a/javascript/2003/05/16/googlehacks.html

Google Hacks
Order Number: 4478
http://www.oreilly.com/catalog/googlehks/


***Buy Where You Shop
In O'Reilly's spring catalog, Tim O'Reilly writes, "If you value the
bookstore experience, my advice is this: buy where you shop. I buy lots
of books online....But when I shop for books in bookstores, I buy
them there, and so should you."
http://tim.oreilly.com/values/buy_where_shop.csp


***Gear Up for Summer 
Do some entertaining this summer. We've got a few things that will help
you impress your guests: open source beer coasters, tarsier mugs, and
classy T-shirts. Show them just how cool you really are. Check out all
the O'Reilly gear at ThinkGeek.
http://www.thinkgeek.com/interests/oreilly/

---------------------
Open Source
---------------------
***Adventures with Kerberos, CVS, and GSS-API
One of the difficulties of writing about technology is exploring the
dark corners where no one's ever been before. Jennifer Vesperman
recently tried to make her CVS installation use Kerberos
authentication. In this article she describes how she went about
integrating the two.
http://linux.oreillynet.com/pub/a/linux/2003/05/22/cvs_gssapi.html

Jennifer is the author of the upcoming "Essential CVS."
Order Number: 4591
http://www.oreilly.com/catalog/cvs/


***Apple and Linux: A Mutual Friendship?
Is running a Linux distro on Mac hardware just sick? Why do people do
it? O'Reilly's editors talk about the benefits of, and pitfalls in,
running Linux on Mac OS X, in the latest "From the Editors List."
http://www.oreilly.com/pub/a/oreilly/editors/apple_linux_0503.html

---------------------
Java
---------------------
***JBoss Optimizations 101
"First make it work, then make it fast." Your J2EE application works,
but it's slower than you'd like under peak load. Before you rush out
for new hardware, check out your configuration. Sacha Labourey and Juha
Lindfors demonstrate a few simple techniques to improve JBoss
performance without spending money.
http://www.onjava.com/pub/a/onjava/2003/05/28/jboss_optimization.html

---------------------
.NET
---------------------
***Using Calculated DataColumns in ADO.NET
If you have a background in database work, you have undoubtedly run
into the rules of normalization. But even though ADO.NET's DataSet
class is sometimes described as a "relational database in memory," it's
important to remember that there are differences between databases and
DataSets. In this particular case, the DataSets are designed to manage
calculated columns. In this article Mike Gunderloy will show you the
syntax for building calculated columns in your own DataSets, and
discuss some of the pros and cons of using such columns.
http://www.ondotnet.com/pub/a/dotnet/2003/05/26/datacolumn_expressions.html

---------------------
Mac
---------------------
***Automating iPhoto 2 with AppleScript 
Derrick Story writes "It's easy enough to get your photos in iPhoto 2,
but how do you process them en masse once they're there? The best
combination is AppleScript and Photoshop. Here's a tutorial on how to
automate iPhoto 2, complete with downloadable scripts."
http://www.macdevcenter.com/pub/a/mac/2003/05/28/iphoto2.html

Derrick is coauthor of " iPhoto 2: The Missing Manual"
Order Number: 5067
http://www.oreilly.com/catalog/iphoto2/index.html


***A DNS Primer
Lurking in your Utilities folder is the Network Utility application,
which provides you with a variety of lookup services. Dan Benjamin
introduces you to this utility in his DNS primer.
http://www.macdevcenter.com/pub/a/mac/2003/05/28/dns_primer.html

================================================
News From Your Peers
================================================
***MacFeast 2003, Norwalk, CA--June 14, 2003
Shawn King, host of Your Mac Life, internet radio show and Brendan
Schilling, regional manager from Apple Computer are the special guest
speakers.

This event includes a chuck wagon BBQ dinner, the evening's speakers,
plus the pre-show vendor expo and door prize drawing. Seating is very
limited and must be reserved online in advance. Please use invitation
code OR-1. There will be no onsite admission.  
http://www.macfeast.com/

Cerritos College
Student Activities Center
11110 Alondra Blvd
Norwalk, CA

Until next time--

Creating a PHP Engine of sorts

As a developer for many years, I have struggeled for a Engine that requires no interaction of a client to server. Allowing an auto involk to load certian scripts at certian times. Like a Ticker of sorts.This would reduce a client-side involked load time with includes. In case im still not very clear on what Im looking for. Think of a script on a server that auto updates your MYSQL data and you never have to goto it or load it. For thoses without their own server who use a hosting company. I have wriiten many Scripts that do vast amounts of datacrunching and processing, user inter-action , and you name it. One thing I have never been able to understand is how to make a script load and just run with-out a client action.

If this is small cheese to you then be kind and inform me of such cheese for i have no clue..