<b>Preventing Site Spam with PHP</b><i>Make Your Web Sites Spammer Unfriendly</i>

By Steph Fox

You put up a site forum, and three weeks later it is full of spam. You open up a wiki, and the spammers have a field day creating new pages on it. You write yourself some blogging software, and the boys are back in town with ‘Nice blog!’ and a link to some unrelated site. The article is an in-depth overview of the methods available to PHP developers for preventing site spam.[Read More]

<b>Refactoring By Example</b><i>Anti-Aging Your PHP Code in Seven Steps</i>

By Stefan Priebsch

When you revisit the PHP source code you wrote a few months or years ago, you may be tempted to ask yourself: Did I write this? What does this code do? Because today, of course, you know you can write better code. But that does not mean you have the option to rewrite all your applications from scratch all over again. Instead, you can overhaul existing PHP code by refactoring.[Read More]

<b>Security Implications of Web 2.0 </b><i>Tackling Current and Future Online Security Challenges</i>

By Anthony Lim

Web 2.0 has arrived, and the race to adopt it is redefining how Web applications are developed and how they are used. The result is a richer, more fulfilling Web experience. But with that progress it becomes even more important to proactively address the heightened security and privacy vulnerabilities, as the same technologies that make for a more user-friendly Web, can also make for less secure Web applications. The article highlights the most common Web 2.0 vulnerabilities that privacy and security professionals need to be aware of, including better understanding for how Web services and AJAX can be exploited and the attacks that they can enable.[Read More]

<b>Beginner’s Guide to PHP</b><i>All About Functions</i>

By Marc Isikoff

In previous issues, I’ve dealt with the basics of PHP providing a good background of PHP syntax, variables and processing logic. I’ve also covered a practical PHP to HTML program and demonstrated how you can write code to make PHP render wonderful web pages. In this issue you will see how well PHP can function for you, for I will be teaching functions.[Read More]

<b>Rich Internet Applications </b><i>A Look Into Available Technology Choices</i>

By Brijesh Deb

Web-based applications have seen large scale usage and popularity. Users can now book a hotel room, buy/sell stock, bid on auctions, check e-mails, browse roadmaps and do a host of other things through a web browser. However, the current document-driven approach of web applications has failed to keep pace with the increase in user expectations. Rich Internet Applications (RIAs) are well poised to bridge that gap and are proving themselves to be the next big wave in web applications. The article looks at the various technology options available for RIA implementation.[Read More]

<b>An Open Source Licensing Primer</b><i>Why Do We Need Open Source Licenses?</i>

By Donald Smith

There is a lot of misinformation and misunderstanding about software licensing which lead organizations to unnecessarily impose blanket policies against software that might otherwise greatly help developers. The result is a frustrated developer community that wants to get stuff done and sees all software licensing as an unreasonable constraint. The article provides a primer on software licenses, why they are required, along with a background on core licensing issues.[Read More]