Join us on Thursday January 24th, 2019 as Erwin Earley discusses PHP, shell programming and more
What can PHP on IBM i do for you?
You have no doubt heard about PHP on IBM I and may have found yourself thinking ‘that’s nice, but what can PHP do for me?’ This session sets out to answer that question.
In this session we will take a look at the application modernization capabilities provided by PHP as well as the ability to leverage open source applications utilizing the ubiquitous LAMP stack (although we spell ours iAMP) that PHP along with MariaDB provides for IBM i.
The session will highlight the open source toolkit for calling ILE programs from PHP scripts, the DB2 language extensions that facilitate integrating DB2 access into your PHP programs, and the MariaDB storage engine for deploying open source applications on IBM I while having the data for those applications resident in DB2.
By the end of this session you will be able to answer the “what” question and also found yourself asking the “why” question – as in why haven’t I implemented these solutions yet.
PHP and Database Access
As the “glue” that holds the LAMP stack together, PHP is used both as the language to represent the business logic of a web application as well as leveraging data from various data sources including relational databases.
The session will start out with a look at the basic database access and manipulation functions provided by PHP. From there we will explore the PHP language extensions for accessing and working with data resident in DB2 on IBM i.
Additionally, we will take a look at how PHP accesses MySQL/MariaDB data and how that data can actually be stored in DB2 without any code changes.
Finally, we will take a look at how the PHP language can be used to build solutions from multiple disparate data sources – specifically in our case we will look at how data from DB2 and data from MariaDB can be represented together to deliver holistically (from a data perspective) solutions.
Openi – Exploring Open Source Solutions on IBM i
Open Source solutions continue to be in vogue for businesses large and small and you might be surprised at the wealth of open source solutions that are available for you to leverage directly on the IBM i platform.
This session will explore IBM’s adoption of open source packages and repositories as well as open source solutions available on IBM i including PHP, SAMBA, node.js, Python, and Ruby.
Along the way we well also explore how to install/enable tools such as bash, git, zip, perl and others in the PASE environment. This session will open your eyes to what is possible on your IBM i.
Shell Programming
If you are going to work in the Linux operating system, or PASE for that matter, then understanding how to program in the shell is an important skill that you must possess.
This session will introduce you to the basic shells that are available and go through a number of programming constructions including looping, functions, and I/O processing.
Closing
IBM i Trivia - the meeting will conclude with “IBM i Trivia Jeopardy”. There will be a few answers to question. A small prize will be awarded to those who correctly question the answer.
Biography
Erwin is currently a Senior Solutions Consultant at Rogue Wave Software working with the Zend line of products (Zend Server, Zend Studio) primarily with IBM i customers.
Prior to starting with Rogue Wave Erwin was a managing consultant in IBMs Lab-Based Services organization responsible for the implementation of cloud-based solutions leveraging IBM’s PowerVC solution as well as Dev/Ops solutions centered around Chef and Docker.
Also played a key role in the propagation of open source technologies in IBMs Power community. Erwin was involved in the initial enablement and rollout of Linux on the Power platform as well as PHP support on IBM i. Erwin has expertise in a variety of technologies including virtualization, storage, networking, and operating systems including AIX, IBM i, and several distributions of Linux including RedHat, SuSE and Ubuntu.
Erwin is a frequent speaker at various user groups and technical conferences and has authored numerous articles on Linux, PHP, virtualization, and systems management.
