The precursor to this article introduced some background and an overview of the design for the Phergie project as an example of the concepts involved in a PHP IRC bot implementation. This article will go further into the topic of plugins including descriptions of those that are commonly needed to make a bot fully functional as well as the commonly needed core features to support plugin development.

If you've ever perused the internet in search of an article or reference on writing an IRC bot in PHP, you were likely disappointed. Most such documents are outdated to the point that their examples are based on PHP 4 and its socket functions. Few show more than the most trivial of bot implementations and barely touch the tip of the iceberg where the IRC protocol is concerned. This article is intended to help remedy that situation.

Using CakePHP's advancing routing system, you can easily create advanced, custom, SEO-friendly URLs with minimal configuration.

No, foreign keys aren't from Brazil or Italy or even the US. Though they can be a bit strange to those who do not understand them, have no fear. We are here to teach you how to talk to them so they can serve your whims.

Building PHP on Windows doesn't have to be a time intensive mystery. Whether you're building custom extensions, patching something in the PHP core, or want to try a build on a newer compiler, you don't have to be intimidated by warnings and errors. Compiling on Windows is no more difficult than compiling on any other system as long as you have the requirements needed: the php source code, a compile environment that the source code understands, and any library dependencies.

Only a few spots remain for our upcoming Chicago conference. Get yours before they're all gone!

php|architect's Guide to Programming Magento now available for preorder at a discounted price

Our first Magento class is already sold out! Don't worry, though—we've already set up dates for the next one.

Zend's co-founder will present the opening keynote at this year's php|tek Conference in Chicago, IL (70% sold out!)

New program brings in-depth training to world's premier Zend Framework-based e-commerce system.