Codswallop

When/Where
Date: Thursday 9th August 2007
Time: 7.00pm

Address
Hitwise Melbourne
Level 6, 580 St Kilda Rd
Melbourne

Website Usability Testing - Sandrine Balbo - 7:15-8:00 pm

In this presentation on Web Site Usability Testing, Sandrine will cover:

• Why test? Setting testing objectives
• Setting testing objectives
• Choosing appropriate testing methods (expert reviews, surveys, observations, etc)
• Determining when to test
• Determining the number of users to test (if any)
• Attaining both internal and external feedback
• Considering the cost vs benefit of testing

Unit Testing with PHPUnit - Ben Cornwell - 8:15-9:00 pm

Unit testing is a programming technique that aids in the development of robust, reliable code and gives developers piece of mind in knowing that their code functions as expected. Based on JUnit, PHPUnit is the defacto standard unit testing framework for PHP: it is easy to install, straight-forward to work with, and actively maintained.

This presentation will cover:

• Introducing PHPUnit
• Installing PHPUnit
• Writing PHPUnit test cases
• Running your tests
• Using test suites to 'group' your tests, and
• Using mock objects

Socialising & Networking - 9:00pm onward

After the meeting we'll be moving downstairs to the Cartel Bar, for an informal chat over a few cold ones.

Pizza, softdrink, tea, coffee and comfy swivel chairs will be provided
with compliments of our major sponsor, Hitwise.

The 2007 British Open at Carnoustie kicks off on Thursday with twenty Australians teeing up. I confess, I haven't heard of all the players. A bit of googling however brings up some interesting stories, such as Ewan Porter who won the Australasian qualifier at the Lakes in Sydney. Now facing the challenge of financing his trip, Ewan auctioned the position of caddy on ebay.

Defending champion Tiger Woods is going for his third consecutive British Open which would tie Australian Peter Thompson's record. Peter Thompson won three in a row between 1954 and 1956 and a total of five all up.

Australian starters at the 2007 British Open at Carnoustie:

• Robert Allenby
• Stuart Appleby
• Aaron Baddeley
• Ben Bunny
• Peter Folwler
• David Gleeson
• Richard Green
• Adam Groom
• Mark Hensby
• Scott Laycock
• Won Joon Lee
• Geoff Ogilvy
• Nick O'Hern
• Rod Pampling
• Terry Pilkadaris
• Ewan Porter
• Adam Scott
• John Senden
• Paul Sheehan
• Matthew Zions

Another Saturday and another Aussie leading a pga tour event. This time it is Nathan Green with a one shot lead going into the final round of the John Deere Classic. Let's hope Nathan can put in a better final round showing than most Aussies have done this year. The John Deere Classic has been good to Australian golf. John Senden is defending champion and I believe Mark Hensby won it a couple of years before that.

There is a thread currently running on the php internals mailing list about finally dropping support for php4! It's about time! Reasons given are to force the hand of hosting providers and application developers to finally upgrade to php5. I couldn't agree more, bring it on! PHP5 has been out for years and unlike some of the crap you read it's been quite stable and the performance is good. There's no excuse not to update.

GoPHP5 is a great initiative promoting the uptake of php5. They outline the reasoning behind why you should update. They list php5 software and hosting providers that support php5. I say if your hosting provider doesn't offer php5, get a better web host!

Good riddance PHP4!

Aussie Jason Day has broken through for his first win as a professional, the Legend Financial Group Classic at Stone Water Golf Club. In doing so Jason Day has become the youngest winner on the Nationwide tour. Jason did it in style too with a birdie on the last hole to edge out fellow Aussie Scott Gardiner by a shot, finishing at -16, a tournament record.

Both Jason Day and Scott Gardiner have moved into the top 25 on the money list, which if they stay their will give them their card for the main tour next year. Jason has moved from 33 to 8 and Scott from 43 to 18. They join two other Aussies Nathan Green and Greg Chalmers in the top 25.