For larger web projects I’ve moved almost exclusively to Django, but PHP is still handy. Recently I wanted to quickly (really quickly) make a flat-heirarchy site with dynamic pages, with clean urls like example.com/foo and example.com/bar.

I could do this with several directories containing index.php files, but I want to use the Google Maps API on several of these pages, and the separate directories would entail separate Google Maps API access keys – a pain.

People are always going on about how it “only” takes twenty minutes or whatever to knock together some little application. Screencasts don’t count, unless they are screencasts of somebody who hasn’t done any preparation. But damn, I just built a trouble-ticket system in Django in twenty minutes. Really. Of course, I already had a running install, this is just something I added. But it was instantly useful. I assigned four tickets to myself and now I can go have dinner.

From dialog05.com, an exhibit of conceptual USB hardware. Imagine all the email. “WHERE CN I BUY 1 THANX!!!” I trust that the USB Implementers Forum Compliance Committee has been appropriately consulted.

The Zend Framework was released a few days ago. This is a PHP5-only web application framework from Zend, “the PHP company.” It has been in development for a long time, but if that had a chilling effect on the development of other PHP frameworks, it’s hard to see.

I’m going to go straight for my grim conclusion here: I think many of the other PHP web frameworks in development have no long-term prayer against Zend. It’s not about technical merits, it’s about the business case that Zend is a safer bet than five random guys with a Trac install and a cool logo.

I just posted this mini-rant over at reddit.com in response to implications that Python is somehow selling out by getting a more business-friendly makeover.

Here’s the thing about the new site being “too corporate” or whatever.

Python is not a band with a MySpace profile and an awesome debut album. It’s a programming language. Programming languages live if they’re used, and more or less die if they’re not used. Enthusiasts, e.g. reddit users, will find what’s cool regardless. Corporations, on the other hand, need to be marketed to. If you love Python, you should love the idea of it putting on a little bit of professional dress – because that ultimately means you are more likely to actually get paid to program in Python down the road.