It is probably safe to assume that everyone by now has seen the PHP 5 release announcements or at least have heard that XML support has been given a complete overhaul. Although I am still surprised with those I talk to who are still developing with PHP 4 and actively working with XML, rather than upgrading to PHP 5 to use the new XML tool sets, I guess it might be a bit scary to think about such an upgrade. Both ext/xslt and ext/domxml have been removed from the core PHP distribution and replaced with completely new extensions, resulting in the need to review and typically re-write all older code relying on either of those extensions in order to upgrade.

p. There is a new blog post in the PHPClasses site that talks about a PHP security exploit that can be performed using specially crafted GIF images that embed malicious PHP code.

p. IBM’s developerWorks has posted and interesting article on converting XML to JSON using PHP. Click on inside and let’s discuss it.

p. Aaron Wormus needs no introduction to those who hang out in freenode.net’s #phpc channel. Like everybody else in a chat room who’s title includes the phrase “It is about community, friendship, and farting around” he’s a quick wit and always willing to help out if a question comes up. Come on inside and let’s chat with him for a few minutes about his sessions at Zend’s PHP/Conference and Expo.

p. When people ask me “What is SimpleXML?” I often quip, “XML is the solution to all your problems; SimpleXML ensures it isn’t the root of your problems!”