Dan Blows

My PHP is object-oriented, using interfaces and small encapsulated classes. Design patterns are important in my code.

Framework experience includes CodeIgniter, Symfony 1.4 and Yii, although Symfony2 is now my favourite.

Other tools that I use a lot include Phing, PHPUnit and XDebug.

I regularly attend meetups and conferences for PHP and Symfony.

ToDo List

• Compare Zend Framework to Symfony2
• Refresh Drupal knowledge, especially Drupal 7
• Build a project with Behat

Favourite books

• PHP Objects, Patterns and Practice Matt Zandstra (Apress)
• Essential PHP Security Chris Shiflett (O'Reilly)

The first webpage I built was in Notepad on Windows 95, but I'm still up to date with HTML5. I have built many websites - from single page sites like this one to microsites that received millions of users.

I build sites with a focus on semantic markup for accessiblity, SEO and performance. A lot of my projects begin with HTML5 Boilerplate.

Also, I've built hundreds of emails to work in Outlook 2007, and all other major email clients.

ToDo List

• Use canvas to build a game
• Build an IM system with WebSocket

Favourite books

• Introducing HTML5 Bruce Lawson, Remy Sharp (Voices That Matter)

A lot of my JavaScript is built within frameworks such as JQuery and JQueryUI. However, I do have a sound knowledge of the underlying structure, including prototypal inheritance. CoffeeScript is another massive timesaver for me.

I've done a lot with AJAX, especially in the workflow management tool I built at Alchemy Worx.

ToDo List

• Read High Performance JavaScript

Favourite books

• JavaScript: The Good Parts Douglas Crockford (O'Reilly)

Despite not being much of a designer, CSS is my first love, and enjoy playing with it. All the new CSS3 stuff has made my life a lot easier.

Most of my projects are written from scratch, using plugins and ideas from frameworks such as Bootstrap.

I have used SASS or LESS, but lately, my attentions have been more on object oriented CSS written from scratch.

ToDo List

• CSS animation
• Read Pro CSS for High Traffic Websites

Favourite books

• Handcrafted CSS: More Bulletproof Web Design Dan Cederholm (Voices That Matter)
• CSS Mastery: Advanced Web Standards Solutions Andy Budd (Friends Of Ed)

MySQL is my database of choice. I can write raw SQL queries, but most of my code uses PDOs and ORMs such as Propel and Doctrine.

Security is an important issue for me, and as such I have a good understanding of issues like SQL injection and mass assignment. I also focus on performance of areas like joins and subqueries.

I use SQL both on the command line, and through applications like Navicat and PHPMyAdmin.

ToDo List

• Build a logging app with MongoDB

I've worked with various APIs, including Facebook and Twitter.

At Alchemy Worx, I built more than 30 data capture projects using ESP APIs for clients including Tesco, Aviva and Carphone Warehouse.

At Fractal, I built a Symfony-based public API.

ToDo List

• Google Maps API

I spend a lot of time at the command line. I'm comfortable managing a webserver using Apache, rolling out an LDAP or Samba server, and supporting a Postfix or Openfire server.

Cat and Grep are my best friends.

Favourite books

• Unix and Linux System Administration Handbook Evi Nemeth, Garth Snyder, Trent R. Hein, Ben Whaley
• Time Management for System Administrators Thomas Limoncelli (O'Reilly)

Recently, I read the Lean Manifesto, and realised that I'd been following many of those principles for a long time anyway.

I enjoy working in an agile team - the exact implementation is less important to me than following principles like continuous integration, test-driven development.

My personal machine is a Macbook, but I'm equally at home on Windows or Linux. I use Netbeans and Textmate.

ToDo List

• Build something with Python
• Get involved with an open-source project on Github

Favourite books

• Code Complete: A Practical Handbook of Software Construction Steve McConnell (Microsoft Press)
• Head First Design Patters Eric Freeman, Elisabeth Robson, Kathy Sierra, Bert Bates
• Clean Code: A Handbook of Agile Software Craftsmanship
• The Pragmatic Programmer Andrew Hunt, David Thomas