PHP Extensions

This was the talk/workshop I was the most excited to come see at PNWPHP and it totally lived up to the hype I built up in my head! There was a ton of technical deep dives into some complex PHP topics and it was explained concisely. I really loved Elizabeth's passion here too - she speaks with an energy and enthusiasm for PHP without holding back on its faults and while still remaining open minded.

Most of all, Elizabeth was so encouraging of people to learn. It's one thing to say "this is how it's done" but another to say "here it is and I want you to learn it, so ask/here's more resources/come talk to us and make PHP better!"

A mix of straightforward code samples, solid explanation, general demystification of the world of PHP extensions and a healthy dose of levity made this workshop an absolute treat (despite the fact that I had to detour to fix a client issue in the middle, so I have some catching up to do). I've thought a few times about venturing into extension-land for fun and profit and, while this workshop didn't assuage my concerns about extension code being pretty ugly (though with PHP 7 it's a bit better than it used to be), it may have pushed me over the edge into jumping into C-land to help out there.

The workshop was also long enough to cover a lot of ground, from basic boilerplate to tweaking object behavior in ways that you can't do in "userland" (or in HHVM, for that matter), but included warnings on pitfalls of trying to reinvent the language without understanding how parsing/lexing/etc. works. There was a ton of information to take in during the workshop to be sure, but it was presented in a reasonably digestible away, and that's downright awesome.