Rob Richards is the author of Pro PHP XML and Web Services. He literally wrote the book on using PHP and XML together. At php|works, he is leading a tutorial on using XML in web services using the DOM extension. If you ever get a chance to hear Rob do a presentation, let me warn you, it is not for the faint of heart. As I learned last night when I sat down with Rob to record an interview, Rob likes to speak on leading edge and advanced topics. This tutorial is an excellent example of that philosophy.

Even though Rob likes to talk about difficult subjects, he does a great job of making them sound simple. He speaks in simple to understand language. However, you still have to pay close attention. If you attend one of his sessions, I do not recommend you try and do email or IM during the session. (as I am right now) If you look away even for a moment you will miss two slides and three or four important concepts. Rob talks faster than most people think so when in one of his sessions, sit up straight, listen attentively and take notes only on the really important things.

I make no bones about the fact that XML is akin to programmatic voodoo to me. I’d rather be forced to sit down and write a REGEX from scratch than have to create and parse XML documents. I know they are important but they are just a pain to me. However, sitting here in Rob’s session, listening his to explain it in such a clear way, I really starting to wonder why I find it so difficult. The ease with which he presents these concepts is amazing. I’m sure as soon as I walk out of the session though, my gray matter will fog back up. :)

One thing I like is that his session is it is not a three hour pitch for his book. So far, I’ve not heard him refer to it once and there isn’t a copy sitting on the podium. I’ve been to conferences where the sessions were nothing more than a commercial for the speaker. So far, php|works has not been one of those conferences.