You may have noticed that I have just launched a new, improved site design. I decided on a new look in order to accomodate the changing direction of the site and my future plans for its content.

Before

After

The first thing you might notice is the wider layout (see the before and after screenshots) which allows for both a wider reading area and more content in the sidebars (more on that in another post). The shorter header section is more streamlined too which also gives over more space to content. The emphasis on content is also echoed by the new location of the sidebars on the right. Content is king!

So, what will all this space be used for? Well I am hoping to keep the content updated much more frequently and with much more of a technical emphasis. I have been working as a professional web developer for over a year now and it’s time I started documenting some of my experiences. Maybe somebody somewhere might find it useful as well as it being a good record for me in the future.

Any feedback or bug reports on the new design are more than welcome. I know its far from perfect but I hope to iron out all the major problems over the next few weeks.

In response to this post by Leonid Mamchenkov about the lack of good PHP developers in Cyprus I thought I would share my thoughts about the experience that the company I work for has had in recruiting a PHP developer to work on our web applications in the UK. We have had great difficulty targeting the quality of developer that we need for our large scale business applications and have come to the conclusion that it’s partly due to the lack of good web developers in the market. We have had a wide variety of applicants but very few have been anywhere near the quality we have been looking for (so far).

There are a lot of ’script kiddies’ around who claim to be advanced developers just because they have made a few websites that use a scripting language and a database. Very few seem to have any knowledge of MVC, frameworks, design patterns, version control or even fundamental concepts like OO and basic commenting and documentation techniques. Like Leonid we would settle for even a few of these skills.

I don’t believe that these problems are necessarily specific to PHP (I may be wrong) but probably the web development industry in general. One of the main problems is the lack of respect for web development by computer scientists and academics. Coming from a university that teaches what I would call pure computer science (by that I mean concepts, thought processes, theory and techniques rather than any particular technologies or programming in a specific language) I was staggered to find, at the end of my degree, that out of my hundred or so fellow students I was one of the only ones going into the web development industry as a career. There were some who had an interest but it was always considered a secondary skill which would be a bonus feature on their CV rather than their main selling point. Web development, particularly with scripting languages (including PHP, Ruby and Python), is not considered to be a ‘proper’ profession for someone with that level of qualification. Java is the exception to the rule as it seems to be the language of choice for many universities to teach the principles of programming and is therefore accepted by its students as an appropriate tool on which to base their career path.

There are quite a few universities that teach the more practical aspects of computer science and some even specifically web development but our experience is that many of their graduates have learnt either .Net or Java but nothing else. The former often do not seem to even be aware of programming tools outside of the safe and cosy Microsoft ecosystem. I am not criticising these universities or the languages that they teach but I do feel that other languages and tools are under-represented in academia.

In response to Leonid’s criticisms of PHP I do agree that one of its problems is its ease of use and the fact that it is newbie safe. There is no doubt that this does attract a lot of beginners to the community. However with the right training and experience there is no reason why these beginners can’t become great programmers, even if they do stick to PHP.

I also think it is unfair to say that it is an ‘ugly language’ although it most certainly can be if not used well. It certainly can’t be criticised for not being ‘convenient’ especially when used with PEAR or a good framework. In my opinion Java is more of an ugly language to read and certainly some of it’s libraries have been forced into its ‘everything is an object’ approach even where it is not appropriate. I admit that PHP is somewhat inconsistent in its function naming and the combination of native functions, procedural code and objects in its documentation but this is becoming easier to ignore with projects such as PEAR and the Zend Framework. PHP is a rapidly maturing language which in the last few years has become a very realistic candidate for developing large scale applications. Yes, it has its weaknesses and can be used to write horrible code but any language can, if put in the wrong hands. The problem here is not PHP itself but the type of people who claim to be good at it.

I think as a community there needs to be more work done to raise the profile of PHP, and web scripting in general, within academia. There are a lot of misconceptions about web scripting and its applicability to large projects and computer science theory. The industry is very young and its power only just being demonstrated. In order to keep moving forward we need more benchmarks and qualifications for developers so we can really separate the excellent and the good from the truly awful. Less time spent searching for the people our projects need is more time creating new and innovative applications.

We checked out of our hotel after breakfast and went to drop our bags at the station until our night train. We headed back into the centre determined to see some more of this lovely city and learn some more of its history.

First we headed for ‘Checkpoint Charlie’ which was one of the most important crossing points between East and West Berlin and was nicknamed such by the Americans (’Charlie’ is from the NATO phonetic alphabet as this was the 3rd major checkpoint). We didn’t go into the museum as it was very overpriced but there was ample information for free on the billboards along the pavement.

The wall was built around West Berlin which was controlled by the Allied troops (US, UK and France). The East of Berlin and the rest of Eastern Germany were controlled by the Soviets. These two ’sides’ represented the victorious parties of WWII and left West Berlin and a kind of island in East Germany with limited passage to the West.

The Soviets favoured communism whilst the Allies wanted to promote democracy. Hence Germany and Berlin were literally split in two. The wall divided streets, neighbourhoods, friends and families. The Soviets made several attempts to force the Allies to give up West Berlin by erecting the wall and militarising it with guardtowers and the so-called death strip.

Over 100 people died trying to cross from the poor and communist East to the West side of the city employing various elaborate methods to trick the Soviet guards. If they were caught they would be arrested or shot. Guards would get pay bonuses for killing escaping civilians. The wall came down in 1989 as the Cold War came to an end and Berlin was then reunited.

The longest remaining stretch of the wall lies outside the ‘Topography of Terror’. This site is supposed to be a museum to commemorate the headquarters of the SS and Gestapo. The museum however is a temporary open-air exhibition due to an epic 15-year political and financial cock-up worthy of a UK government project. The fact that the museum is ‘temporary’ detracts from its effectiveness in demonstrating what the building, detroyed after the war, would have been like. It was interesting but not as good as the similar museum in Budapest.

Dinner was in an Australian Bar in Potsdamerplatz and later we headed for the station to catch our overnight train to Brussels.

Well today I was ill and we really didn’t do a lot. It seems that not only did the curry not taste that good but that it was a health risk too. Needless to say we couldn’t venture far from the toilet except to go to the chemists for much needed medicine. Luckily Emma was alright.

We tried to venture out for food in the late afternoon but had to return back to the hotel soon after. By the evening all I could really manage was to go to the cinema again. This time it was ‘Evan Almighty’ which was truly awful.

We were supposed to be going to Potsdam today but will have to do that another time. Not a great day!

The train journey to Berlin was a long one but in a German train so wasn’t too bad. We arrived at Berlin Hauptbahnhof which is the brand new central station completed this year. The station is huge and acts as a transport hub for a city that was previously split in two. Fittingly the site is right were the Wall was.

Berlin is a lovely city, very clean and green too. An easy walk to our hotel made our introduction to the city a nice one.

We headed out for lunch and found an Indian restaurant. It was alright but not a patch on an English curry.

After this we walked past the Jewish memorial site and then to the Reichstag (government building) and the Brandenburg Gate. The whole area is spotlessly clean and beautifully designed. There are huge modern buildings seamlessly integrated into the historic surroundings. The wide open spaces and greenery make the whole area very nice to wander around.

Next we headed to Potsdamerplatz which is one of the cities busiest squares and was of significance in both WW2 and then the Cold War. There is a memorial segment of the wall with informative posters. The square is surrounded by huge high-rise modern architecture and the huge ‘Sony Centre’ which is not just a shop but a giant entertainment complex with restaurants, shops and an IMAX cinema. The whole area is one of the nicest inner city areas I have ever been too and is so well kept.

We went to the cinema in the evening to see ‘Reign Over Me’. Well worth seeing, especially in such a nice cinema.

Breakfast today was at the café again and very nice. The weather was little dodgy but we got a pedalo out nonetheless and the rain held off for then. It was nice to see the city from a different perspective without the crowds.

Much of the rest of the day was spent sampling some more of Prague’s beer in a variety of pubs and bars. Lunch was our main meal today and I had goulash with dumplings (a traditional Czech dish). With 2 beers, 2 cocktails and our meals the whole bill came to under 10 pounds – good value. The trick in Prague is to not eat in the main tourist areas and venture just a few streets away – the prices drop considerably (a 0.5L Pilsner in the main square bar is about 1.50GBP whereas we paid about 60p).

We walked around in the evening and had an ice cream. Quite a lazy day really but it is so easy to do that in Prague and not break the bank.

Today started with breakfast (as most days seem to have a habit of doing). It was one of the nicest we have had so far in the café we visited last night. It is lovely to eat breakfast outside and it was quite cheap too.

We headed straight through the square and across Charles Bridge up the hill to the castle – Prague’s most popular attraction. I think it was the busiest it had been anywhere on the trip and it was just about bearable.

The castle is the biggest coherent castle complex in the world and consists of many churches, cathedrals, towers, houses and palaces. We managed to get the ’short tour’ ticket (also known as the tight person’s ticket) for half price as we convinced them we were students. The ticket got us in to the major attractions including the Old Royal Palace, St. George’s Basilica, the Golden Lane, the Gardens and the central St. Vitus Cathedral.

We started at the Golden Lane which was where the craftsmen and other workmen of the castle lived. An American would have definitely called it quant and I suppose it was really. The Daliborlea Tower wasn’t though, with its exhibition of medievil torture instruments.

We also saw the Old Royal Palace, Powder Tower and St. George’s Basilica. I can’t help feeling that in general the whole thing is a little over-rated but then again maybe we are taking the extraordinary for granted. After all I don’t know how many churches we have seen on this holiday but it is lots!

We walked through the gardens around the palace back into the town where we had lunch in the medievil streets. We then headed to the park with the miniature Eiffel-Tower-like thing. We queued up for the Funicular Railway – everything seems to involve queueing in Prague – up to the top of the hill and another wonderful view of the city.

Dinner was next to the river but unfortunately not the traditional Czech cuisine I wanted as they seemed to have run out of everything. I did sample some more beer though! The ‘live music’ was some bloke playing on his keyboard from ‘101 keyboard hits for beginners’ or so it sounded anyway. Still, it added to the atmosphere.

I took some photos in the dark on the way back and we went for coffee in the same café again – it is really good. I am beginning to like Prague a little more now although if I’m honest it still hasn’t lived up to expectations.

We were up at 5.00 this morning ready to catch our 6.43 train. There was one small problem however in that when we got to the station we found that there was no 6.43 train! We asked and were told we would have to make several changes in order to get there today.

5 trains, a bus, one passport control and 8 hours later we arrived in Prague pretty tired to say the least. It took us a further hour to find our hotel as the directions were useless (even Google Maps didn’t help us). We eventually got here and went straight for tea.

Passing through Wenceslas Square (named after the good king who looked out although he was actually a prince) and through some of the old town we went to TGI Friday’s (we really weren’t in the mood to look for anywhere else). That’s it for today really – so tired!

We woke to rain this morning so decided to stop a little in a café for breakfast and then a short while blogging too.

Once the rain had stopped we headed into town down the main street to Marianplatz again. On the way we managed to get stuck in a gay parade. The whole city centre was very camp and it was nice to escape all the commotion.

Of course there was nowhere better to escape that Hofbrauhaus! Absolutely packed of course being a Saturday and the day of a Bayern Munich match. It was a really nice atmosphere though with no sign of a football hooligan. The beer hall is huge with hundreds of people sat at long bench tables listening to the brass band, singing and drunkenly quaffing beer from litre tankards. My kind of place! The beer was really good and it was definitely worth the visit.

The so-called museum and ‘traditional’ beer hall upstairs were a bit of a waste of time though.

Feeling a little merry (well I was anyway) we headed for the Englischer Garden in search of some more beer gardens. The garden or park is one of the biggest in Europe and is very peaceful. We saw people surfing on a weir in the river running through the park. Not the sort of thing you expect to see in the middle of a city but they were pretty good for townies.

Unfortunately our (or my) quest for more beer was halted by more rain. We managed to shelter in a subway station but it really did rain an awful lot and for quite some time too.

Dinner was in an Irish Pub (recommended by the ever-wise travel oracle) next to the cathedral. It was very nice to be surrounded by mainly Brits for a while and not to have German food! An early night tonight as we have a very early start tomorrow.

Today was an emotional and at times a distressing day as we visited the concentration camp memorial at Dachau, just outside Munich.

First however we experienced the super-efficient public transport system. The network consists of the S-Bahn (overground and underground fast trains), the U-Bahn (the underground), trams and buses all of which can be used with one ticket. One ticket for 24-hours for both of us on all forms of transport was only 11 Euros ( it was only this much because we needed to go outside of the main city zone). Definitely good value!

Anyway we got the S-Bahn and then the bus to the memorial. Notably the Germans emphasise the memorial part of the site and never simply call it a concentration camp. Also, and quite rightly, entry is free and the audio guides only 3 Euros. Both indicate the regret and remorse that modern Germany feels that these atrocities ever happened on their soil and in their name.

The camp itself was built in 1933 and was the first concentration camp, later becomming the model on which many more were to be based. The site also housed a large complex for use by the SS which are still in use today by the German army. They were also used by the Americans when the camp was liberated in 1945.

Although the camp was initially used as a labour camp for anyone resisting Hitler’s National Socialist Party it later became more like a distribution centre to the many subcamps surrounding Munich. Anyone ‘undesirable’ was sent included Jehovah’s Witnesses, homosexuals, anyone considered to be antisocial, petty criminals and, of course, Jews.

What I found particularly shocking was that Hitler’s Reich became so dependent on the camps as a means for production that companies such as BMW and Messerschmitt actually hired the slaves from the SS to meet their production orders from the government.

As Hitler began to lose his grip on his empire the camp grew and became more of a death camp. We saw the furnaces in the crematorium where the tens of thousands of bodies were incinerated. When a coal shortage broke out the bodies were piled outside.

We also saw a gas chamber which although never used for mass murder it is thought that it may well have been used for individual experimentation. Neo-Nazis later claimed that the chamber was built after the liberation by American troops.  Quite why the Americans would have needed any more evidence to incriminate those involved I don’t know.

The conditions for prisoners were dreadful with disease spreading regularly as the population of the camp reached five times its capacity. Starvation and exhaustion were other common causes of death.

It is such an injustice that as America became preoccupied with the Cold War many of the worst war criminals were never actually punished for their crimes.

Dachau is very interesting and well presented. As some who has never been to a concentration camp before and has embarassingly little knowledge of WWI and WWII this was a real eye-opener.

To lighten the modd and make use of our travel ticket we decided to visit the Olympic Stadium. It was quite impressive although looking a little dated now and surrounded by a very tacky funfair. Hopefully this will not happed in London after 2012 but then we don’t have a great track record (don’t excuse the pun) for this sort of thing.

We also saw the BMW headquarters on our walk around the Olympic Park. It seems amazing to me that the same company who exploited the labour camps in WWII is today one of the world’s most successful motor companies.

Dinner tonight was in a grungy bar which is supposed to be a favorite student hang-out. It must be popular as four out of the 6 tables were reserved. We sampled currywürst and of course the beer. That and some kind of schnapps were part of the set menu. Certainly interesting and cheap too although I don’t think fine cuisine is one of Germany’s greatest assets. Fine beer on the other hand… hic!