Passing the AMFPHP torch
I am stepping down from being the lead of AMFPHP as of January 2010 and passing the torch to Ariel Sommeria and Danny Kopping. The goal of AMFPHP was as follows:
- Quick installation and implementation
- Nothing required – PHP4/PHP5 compatible, no extensions needed
- Low footprint, lightweight, fast
- Convention over configuration (service and class mapping)
- Can be embedded into a framework (see CakeAmfphp , Seagull )
- Services are “non-specific” PHP classes that are portable to anything without code change
- Productivity tools included (service browser, code gen, profiling)
- Batteries included – XML-RPC, JSON
- Not a framework by itself (use your own)
- Examples
- Mimic the AMF specification
When I started AMFPHP I was using Flash 8 to build RIA’s; boy the world has changed! I honestly can say I don’t personally agree with the goal of AMFPHP anymore. A week ago Patrick Mineault called me out on my motivation; he was right. I have since migrated to using Flex and even had the amazing opportunity to work on Flash Builder 4’s PHP integration. Overall my mission has changed and with it I tried to change AMFPHP. Sorry everyone; I didn’t even notice I was doing that! Overall I am probably much better at slinging PHP code than moderating a project. 
With that in mind I will still be committing updates and answering questions for both projects.
Flex Builder 4, Security (Zend_ACL), Robust Logging, Robust Authentication (Zend_Auth), ORM and Master/Slave DB’s (Zend_DB), Messaging (AMQP), 5.3 Naming Conventions, clean New BSD license, decoupled serialize, OOP code base, and a massive service catalog are why I will continue to work on Zend Amf. I believe that Zend Amf is a great solution for anyone looking to build RIA’s in PHP.
I’m sure AMFPHP and Zend AMF is dealing with a larger problem that Adobe is dealing with. How do we keep those that are getting started and need a quick solution and those that need enterprise architecture all happy under the same name; Flash. I wish Danny and Ariel the best of luck and will give them my full support with questions and introductions to the community at large! They have already released an updated patch available for download today!
I’ve pretty much gone to the Zend Framework all the way over the past year. I started out on AMFPHP, but I personally have come to like Zend_Amf better….mainly because it’s being maintained and seems to integrate more seamlessly into Flex…though that could just be a matter of taste.
Long live AMFPHP. I use it everywhere because it just works. I’ve got the workflow down so I haven’t bothered with Zend very much. Perhaps some project will come along that will necessitate Zend. Until then I’m pimp’n for AMFPHP all the way.
Hi Wade,
I actually missed this post, so better late than never. Thanks for the work on AMFPHP and the support you gave me when I joined AMFPHP. I’m hearing some bad words about you, and I’d like to point out to anyone reading that if you really had just wanted Zend AMF to move forward and let AMFPHP die, you could have just ignored me, which you didn’t.
I’m sure there are bridges to be built between the two projects, as soon as the excitement dies down I hope we’ll get the occasion to discuss them.
bye
Ariel
@ariel You will soon find out that people appreciate open source by how much they pay for it. All the best!
@Wade, replay to “You will soon find out that people appreciate open source by how much they pay for it. All the best!”
I don’t agree with that at all. My views are that if you don’t like what your doing, don’t do it. In contrast to that you can all ways tell when some one is passionate about some thing they do. That was something that I always admired about Patrick’s work.
I’m sure your a really nice guy and do great work for Zend, but I never got the impression that you liked working on AMFPHP. I’m glad you kept amfphp alive and even more glad that you handed it over to people who are passionate about it. Just as Ariel said, you could have let it die any time you wanted to. I realize that I have been a hypocrite by being as critical of your efforts yet at the same time not contributing my self. I hope to change that soon. I think I can speak for any one who has been critical of you efforts by saying that it was disappointing to see the progression that amfphp had with Patrick’s efforts then to see that development progression drop off almost completely when handed over to you. But at the same time I’m sure most of us understand circumstance and that you tried to do what you can.
Best of Luck at Zend, keep on creating.
- Josh C