phpMelb Aug 20: App Engine, Generators, Security, and Project Conception/Design

Presentation: Building Scalable PHP Applications Using Google’s App Engine by Amy Unruh and Stuart Langley

Google App Engine allows you to build web applications on the same scalable systems that power Google applications. In this talk we’ll dive into the best practices for writing scalable PHP applications on the App Engine platform, with a particular focus on how you can easily build apps that incorporate large-scale asynchronous background processing. The talk will include:

An overview of App Engine, and the differences between applications running on App Engine and a typical LAMP stack Using App Engine services such as task queues, memcache, and user authentication Composing your application with Google Cloud Datastore, Google Cloud Storage and Google Cloud SQL. Amy and Stuart work for Google in Sydney.

Lightning Talk: In Defence of Generators by Rick Measham

We were introduced to PHP's new generators at the May meeting and, upon further reflection, I believe they're more useful than they first appeared. I'd like to make a five minute lightning defence.

Presentation: Understanding PHP; a Guide to Security by Ben Dechrai

PHP has a mixed reputation. On the one hand, some people swear never to use it citing numerous security concerns. On the other, some people love it because it's one of the more flexible and arguably easier to learn languages for web development out there. This talk is aimed at those who are relatively new to PHP and want to understand more about the issues that can cause them to come unstuck.

Ben will discuss the PHP interpreter's modus operandi and configuration options, something that will help with anticipating security weaknesses in applications and attack vectors used by those trying to break the system. A live demo of web site attacks will demonstrate the relative ease of bypassing application security.

Lightning Talk: How I Plan To Learn To Stop Worrying And Love CRMs by Tim Ogilvy

Tim's current project is a secure portal/extranet for one of his clients. Initially just used to create and store quotes, it has the potential to evolve into a fully-fledged CRM which he finds both amusing and spooky at the same time.

In this lightning talk, Tim will introduce his novice project in order to share his experience and gain constructive criticism from the group. Feedback on security, suggestions for a suitable framework to consider moving forward, and suggestions for how to give up his addiction to Dreamweaver will all be gratefully received.

[Talk title unashamedly provided by Ben Dechrai]

Networking

After a quick pack up, we head to the nearest eating establishment for food, drinks and networking.