I am proud to announce the first of a series or interactive technology workshops Learn By Doing #1: Understanding MVC development with CakePHP. Over the past few months I have grown very fond of the framework and all the effort done to create such a complete tool set for application developers.

Find out more here: Understanding MVC development with CakePHP

With the help of The Syracuse Tech Garden I will continue to host sessions focusing on a variety of topics. Some that are planned for the future are:

• HTML5 - How to find the right framework and where to start
• Project Management - Finding free tools to shorten development time and collaborate easier.
• Wordpress Plugins - How to structure and develop distributable code
• Source Control - Why it is important even if you are working alone
• Cloud Applications - How to setup and deploy your application to the cloud

You can find more information about future sessions on the meetup group  http://www.meetup.com/syracusewebdesign/

I encourage anyone interested to suggest additional topics. And hope to see you there.

There are some new code samples and tips available on the site. As I come across some new useful snippets and code it will be added to each section.

Twitter Helper for CakePHP

I created a simple Twitter helper for CakePHP. All it does is pull from a users public feed and lists the tweets. It will parse each one and create the necessary links.

Link: CakePHP Tweet Helper

Updated Code Snippets

Also added some new snippets for managing Ruby gems ( Well deleting all of them ) and some Linux bash profile scripts that I use to make server management less of a chore.

Over the past month I have had the opportunity to setup and configure my first systems management platform Spacewalk  http://spacewalk.redhat.com/. It is based off of Redhat Satellite and designed to make management of server groups easier by consolidating many of the repetitive tasks into one management console.

Some of the main features that helped make the choice where:

• Management of any number of systems from one place
• Inventory hardware and software information
• Install and update software on your systems
• Create system groups and synchronize software between members
• Collect and distribute your custom software packages into manageable groups
• Provision (kickstart) virtulaized systems and control Start/stop/configure of them
• Manage and deploy configuration files and create custom groups
• Custom configurable monitoring of all systems with Txt message notifications of issues

Spacewalk is and Open Source project and free to use for anyone, though it can be a bit tricky to setup. One of the items I found a bit difficult to comprehend at first is it is written in Perl, Python, and Java, plus uses Oracle XE as a database back end. In the beginning it can be a bit difficult to understand and debug when things are not working. Also it is like many new projects software built by combining many other open source projects:

• Apache - Tried and true web server
• Tomcat/Java - Java Servlet
• Jabber - Handles communication between the system
• NOCPulse - Manages remote monitoring
• Cobbler - Manages kickstart configurations on the server
• Koan - Performs the remote kickstarts

As I get further into the setup I will add some documentation on how to do so yourself. It might not be the best thing if you only manage once box, but once you get to 10 or more you will be happy you found it.

There is a new feature on linked in called Skills  http://www.linkedin.com/skills/ that basically allows you to enter your different skills and get a report on which way the demand is growing. The first time I visited it I entered the usual terms LAMP, PHP, Javascript and was surprised by some of the results. It looks like LAMP development is being overtaken by WIMP ( Windows IIS MySQL PHP ). Although I never want to call my self a WIMP developer it is interesting none the less.

Another unexpected result of searching is the way it displays similar skills and software. You can find some real hidden gems in this data that may help you expand into new areas.

Our goal is to provide a place for developers of all types to collaborate and learn. Over the next few weeks many new and exciting projects will begin with the goal of learning new technologies and contributing to the world of open source development.

If you would like to participate sign up and join a project or start your own.

Also don't forget to join our linked in group   Syracuse Web Developers