"I don't know C!", is probably one of the most common excuses that us PHP nerds give for not contributing to PHP source. And top it off with all the overly-publicized drama surrounding the PHP internals mailing list, most user-land PHP developers don't want to touch PHP source with a ten foot pole.

In this talk I tell my story of how a plain-old user-land PHP nerd who, "doesn't know C," found himself drawn to PHP internals like a bug to a light. I was meet with a lovely helpful community of individuals who mentored me the whole way to making PHP better. This talk will encourage and inspire you to join me on an epic journey to the center of PHP.

Comments

Comments are closed.

Great talk, informative and illuminating!

Great to hear about how it actually is possible to contribute to something as large as PHP core.

Dani Ames at 11:04 on 18 Mar 2017

Engaging and very motivational. Humorous and easy to listen.

It was an interesting and entertaining story but I still left feeling like I wouldn't even know where to begin to do this myself. I had been hoping for more "center of php" and less journey to get there I guess. Learning about how PHP works under the hood would have been more useful I think in helping enable me to start my own journey to the center.

Caitlin Bales at 14:56 on 20 Mar 2017

I think you make this topic approachable by identifying that you didn't know what you're doing and I'm glad you admitted that! I think we tend to think of contributors as mythical geniuses and that we could never do something like that. It's good to hear from someone who is straightforward with the audience about the path to make it seem less scary.

Emily Stamey at 17:56 on 20 Mar 2017

This was a great talk! I really enjoyed hearing the stories and all of the people who help make PHP awesome! I hope someone writes the book for what you need to know about PHP Internals because I would like to not rely on multiple brain dumps to get started.

Andy Snell at 13:48 on 21 Mar 2017

It's rare to get a technical talk with as much energy and heart as Sammy put into this one. It really made contribution to the language seem approachable, even if everything is still tied up in tribal knowledge. Hearing that "a plain-old user-land PHP nerd" can make a real meaningful change was very exciting.