Lone Star PHP 2014
25 - 26 Apr 2014
at Addison Conference and Theatre Centre
Talk comments
I joined this workshop on the second day - I'm not new to PHP, so I didn't think a beginner's course was what I needed, but many of the other talks were over my head, so when I heard that the workshop was continuing, I decided to jump in.
The teaching technique was great - it may seem tedious to refactor the same code over and over in multiple steps, but that made sure we understood what each change was really doing. And it will equip us to recognize existing code that might be similar to one of the intermediate stages.
And Davey not only has solid knowledge and a way of explaining things clearly, but he also can quickly recognize the level of each of his students and respond appropriately. If I cross paths with him at a future event where he is teaching or presenting something, I will be sure to attend.
The only suggestion for improvement is to pad the time plan to expect issues that need to be resolved one by one. In two days we did not finish a one-day curriculum. The personal care is good - I'm not saying that you should reduce a hands-on workshop to a cold lecture or leave students to fend for themselves. But you could either: (a) increase the time, (b) reduce the amount of material, or (c) have helpers working with individual issues while the main teaching progresses - which of those is possible or appropriate will of course depend on the situation (number of students, number of instructors, available time, etc.).
Very well presented, excellent list of tools. My only recommendation is to add the link to your slides here in Joind.in. :)
Nice work! Larry, you are truly one of the best speakers in the PHP community. Your ability to balance technical content, humor, practicality, and passion into your presentations always makes them a delight. Thanks!
Michelangelo gives excellent talks, and this talk was no exception. I enjoyed the real world examples he brought in from other companies experiences - I'll definitely be taking these ideas home. One thing I would have liked to hear a little more about (although for selfish reasons) would be the business incentives for contributing to open source software specifically. He touched upon this, but I think he could definitely expand. :)
I think you were able to cover this topic very well. There was a lot of information to discuss even for a very specific topic. I love your presentations for their technical content, but I'd like to see more animation and vocal inflection from you as a presenter.
Having walked myself through similar programs like RailsGirls & RailsBridge, I'm so happy to see PHPBridge finally taking off. I found the curriculum to be a great introduction to PHP, and the 1-on-1 coaching was immeasurably helpful. The conference wifi did slow things down, but that's to be expected.
Great talk and slide deck. Nice guidelines for development.
Good talk but it would be nice to have the slide deck posted. There are a few things I wanted to reference here today. Was discussing the talk with some fellows
5 thumbs up with slide deck ;)
Keith is a very polished speaker. I found his talk engaging and entertaining. I especially enjoyed the color Keith was able to provide around the development of the Twilio API. When your business is centered around API use - you better have an API with which a developer can be productive within minutes. Twilio has definitely achieved this and should be a model for API developers.
If asked to reach for criticism, I would say that some of what was presented re-enforced what developers (especially those willing to spend a Saturday at a PHP conference) largely already understand. Things like:
- Accurate documentation is important
- Be consistent in your naming
- Make sure you're using HTTP response codes properly
Great talk overall.
I really enjoyed this one.. it was full of actionable steps that almost anyone should be able to follow. Her style and presence are also hard to forget. :)