To be honest, my first language was VB, but the one I actually use most and know best is PHP. For example, when I took part in the Taipei City Software Competition, I solved every problem in PHP, since that’s what I know best~ So when I heard PHPConf was happening, I was so happy that I signed up to be a staff member XD

Registration for this PHPConf was incredibly hot. The 100 spots were snapped up in just 5 minutes… Luckily, as a staff member I didn’t have to fight for a ticket XD But I didn’t really help out much this time. I feel like I was just slacking off QQ My job was timekeeper. I can only describe that job in one word….. a cushy gig. All I had to do was adjust some settings on an iPad and let the speakers know the time. The perk was….. a seat with a great angle. Sitting there, I felt a bit uneasy, because I was so relaxed QQ But because of that, I got to listen to quite a lot at this PHPConf. At COSCUP, when I was a staff member last time, I was so busy that I didn’t really listen to anything during the two days.

▲▲Registration desk

▲▲That’s me, far right in the front row

However, the sessions at this PHPConf were all classics! For example, hinablue’s talk on CSS/SASS/COMPASS was great. I’d always wondered why CSS, such a wonderful thing, has no variables! If it did, you could do so many things. After listening to that talk, I learned that it isn’t that CSS doesn’t have them. It’s that I didn’t know XD

I also learned a lot from eddie’s talk on CoffeeScript. CoffeeScript makes JavaScript feel completely different, letting you write JavaScript with cooler syntax. If only someone could do something similar for VB… VB’s syntax really is ugly……

▲▲A truly classic shot XD

The talks by ricky and appleboy gave me a much deeper understanding of frameworks. I had always avoided learning a framework because I wanted to build a solid foundation first, so my coding was painfully slow… After listening to those two talks, I really wanted to learn a framework XD Especially the admin generator in Symfony, which is a truly amazing thing!

▲▲Kiang!!

Aside from the ones I’ve mentioned, the other talks were great too. (The funniest was ANT’s talk, which had the whole room cracking up XD Go watch the video!) But……. I got hungry and wanted to go eat, so I won’t introduce them all one by one. I also really want to thank Academia Sinica OSSF for their help. They took care of many problems for the organizers, such as the venue and funding.

Honestly, this PHPConf didn’t have any real downsides. The venue ran smoothly, and maybe because it was a smaller event, the wireless network didn’t fall apart either. I’m looking forward to the next PHPConf!! I hope it’ll be a bit bigger then, and that more spots will be open XD

I didn’t bring a camera this time, so I didn’t take any photos QQ The photos in this post were downloaded from Gao Jianlong.

Finally, here’s some post-event info for PHPConf: