Maggie Nelson (May 20, 2009)
Talk at php|tek 2009 (English - US)
PHP applications that require database access face two types of developers: a) those who design the database first, then fit the PHP code around it, or b) those who design the application model, then fit the database around it. The two kinds fight, and often, sometimes losing sight of what's important in a web application: performance and ease of maintenance. In either case, the application ends up relying on an overblown system mapping what's in the database to objects in PHP.
So what is the PHP community doing about it? Maggie will talk about available object-relational mapping (ORM) implementations across the PHP world: frameworks, packages and random found-on-teh-Interwebs classes. She will also talk about what makes a good ORM system (a most likely biased opinion, so please come with questions!) She will also talk about expanding your ORM to incorporate results caching, database replication and data sharding.
Quicklink: http://joind.in/193
Slides: ORM in the PHP World
May 24, 2009, 15:55 by caseysoftware
I appreciated the considerations presented - not learning another language for SQL, performance, etc - but I didn't feel like there was a conclusion. I didn't get the idea that there was a "So given our requirements, I've found X, Y, and Z to be the best options."
That said, the criticism and comments were all true and raised various points that I hadn't considered previously. I hope some of the ORM frameworks ponder the points.
Currently not open for comment.
May 20, 2009, 22:38 by elazar
Speaker presented relatively well, but got flustered and tended to ramble at several points. Pace was a bit quick. Examples of specific ORMs had somewhat shallow depth and didn't offer much comparison between them. Coverage of what ORMs are, situations in which they are or aren't appropriate, and available alternatives was good.