The Ctype extension functions verify whether all of the characters in a given string are of the correct type. This article take a look at the syntax used by the functions, what specific checks exist, and how they’re used to perform validation on strings.

Projects are slippery, unruly beasts! In a previous project management article it was mentioned you should use an Agile methodology, particularly Scrum, to help tame them. This article follows up by looking a bit closer at Scrum, hopefully enticing you to start using it to manage your projects if you aren’t already.

There are many ways in which a project can fail. It can fail because deadlines aren’t met, budgets are exceeded, etc. What can you do as a technical project manager to minimize your chances of adding “leader of a failed project” to your resume?

PCI is a set of security guidelines drawn up by credit card companies and industry security experts to outline what precautions an application should take when handling credit or debit card information. This article dispels a couple of persistent myths about PCI, takes a 20,000-foot look at what PCI encompasses, and then zeros in on the requirements that are most pertinent to a PHP developer.

Business screens are different from the pages we’re used to developing for a blog or website. The way input fields are organized and the efficiency with which one can go through a page and enter data is very important for business users. This final part of the i series looks at what goes into making usable screens.

The i is a very wonderful machine and there are lot of opportunities for brave PHP programmers who venture into this realm. Here we continue out look at life with the i from a PHP developer’s perspective and focus on what the terrain looks like.

We’ve talked about a lot of weird things so far on PHPMaster (well, at least I think some of them are weird), but this may take the cake. In this series I want to talk to you about PHP – and the IBM I. That’s right, the IBM i, formerly known as System i and before that as the AS/400. Let’s start by dispelling the myth that the i is dinosaur; it’s actually a very wonderful machine, and there are lot of opportunities for brave PHP programmers who venture into this realm.

Security vulnerabilities can seriously affect your PHP web application, and there are other things besides the ten (okay, seven) previously talked about. This article continues the discussion with five more miscellaneous things that are security related to watch out for.

Security is not a list of things you do. Security is a way of thinking, a way of looking at things. This article outlines some of the top issues that, if you aren’t careful to avoid, can allow your PHP application to be breached.

Every language has a way of clearing out orphaned resources and making them available to ensure the total available system space remains constant. If it were to be named today, it would probably be called Recycling Options instead of Garbage Collection because instead of picking things up and throwing them into a landfill, we are really talking about grabbing memory whose use has passed and setting it up to be useful again. Understanding how PHP manages its memory resources is crucial if you’re writing high-load or long-running scripts.