Ordinarily, when you write a class your code may look something like this:

<?php

require_once('../code/foo.php');
require_once('../code/baz.php');

class widget extends foo
{
    public function event()
    {
        $baz = new baz();
    }
}

Autoloading does away with the need to put require / include once to include class file by enabling you to attach a function that performs an action before a class is instantiated. SPL autoload works when you try to instantiate a class or use reflection on a class and only works when the class hasn’t already been loaded.

Basic Autoloader

This Autoload script looks at the name of the class, converts the class name into a path then includes the file. In this example, I’ve written my function so it will handle PHP 5.3 namespaced classes as well.

The Autoload function works on a couple of assumptions:

1. There is only one class per file,
2. Your library directories are organised by a vendor structure

This is a fairly high level implementation, there are a number of different approaches to class loading in PHP 5 however, this is my favourite because it’s the simplest.

<php

// Register autoloader
spl_autoload_register('loadGenericClass');

// Set base include paths
$paths = array();
$paths[] = "/PATH/TO/LIBRARY/";
$paths[] = "/PATH/TO/ANOTHER_LIBRARY/";
$paths[] = get_include_path();

set_include_path(implode(PATH_SEPARATOR, $paths));

// Autoloader
function loadGenericClass($class)
{
    $path = str_replace(array('_', '\\'), '/', $class) . '.php';

    @include_once($path);
}

Stepping through the code

The first part registers a function that can be used to include a file. In this instance, the function is called loadGenericClass. Underneath, I’ve set up an array of paths to search through. We’re going to add these to the include path since we want our autoload function to have complete access to our bespoke code and PEAR / PECL classes. In my example, my library files are in multiple locations which is I why I prefer to use an array over building a long string.

When PHP calls the loadGenericClass function it passes in the class name. In this instance, I’m performing a simple replace to look for underscores (_) and backticks (\) and replace them with a slash. The slash represents the path of the class file. For example Vendor_Group_Class is converted to Vendor/Group/Class.php.

We also look for backticks because in PHP 5.3 now has namespace support. In this instance, the variable will be \Vendor\Group\Class which is converted to Vendor/Group/Class.php.

Finally, the file gets included into the script. This will use the include path to load the class file.

And there you have it. Class loading in PHP 5 without the need for include and require everywhere.

I’ve started to compile a list of some of the more useful and maybe unknown MySQL commands.

\! clear;

Similar to the Linux clear command it gives you a shiny clean MySQL buffer for you to dirty up again.

SHOW FULL PROCESSLIST;

If you use the standard SHOW PROCESSLIST function, you’ll notice that the result in the info column is truncated which is unhelpful if there is a number of queries with similar syntax running. Adding FULL will return the full SQL query but will probably break the column layout which brings me to my next command:

SHOW FULL PROCESSLIST \G;

SELECT * FROM table \G;

Adding \G to the end of a query returns results in a ‘card view’ layout which is useful if you have columns with large amounts of data.

SHOW OPEN TABLES;

If you’re working on a database which uses transactions and are trying to work out if a table is locked, or in use, this query will tell you.

SHOW TABLE STATUS;

This view will show you details related to the table including engine, how many rows in the table when it was created, updated and rows.

SHOW CREATE TABLE `table_name`;

This will dump the create script for the specified table name, useful if you don’t want to use MySQL dump to get the schema.

When I was deciding whether to restart my blog, I considered if it would be a good idea to import the 2000 or so posts I accumulated in archive form from personal sites going back to 2003. Every year up until 2007, I’d do a post about what I want to achieve in the new year but then I realised the process was pointless: being the best you can be was more important. I also decided not to import the posts simply because they’re rubbish.

This year, I thought it’d be fun to write down some resolutions and see how they pan out.

Some of my favourite ones include:

• Attain my drivers licence
• Learn how to play the guitar
• Travel again, this time to Singapore, London and New York
• Run 12K in just under 1h 5m
• Deactivate my Facebook profile

Whoa… What was the last one? Deactivate my Facebook profile. Actually, I just ticked that one off the list.

There were a number of reasons why I decided to do this. Firstly, it was eating a massive chunk of my 150mb monthly data access on Vodafone. I’m looking at getting off Vodafone when my contract runs out and I don’t want upgrade and be locked in for another 24 months.

The second and perhaps more important reason is because I felt that over the last two years the human element of interactions I had with others – friends, family and acquaintances had completely diminished. No one ever bothered to ring me to invite me to an event; it was simply put up on Facebook, if something exciting happened I’d read about it on the wall, if I wanted to chat to someone it’d be easier to open the chat window rather than make a phone call or meet face to face. I was just as bad. It made me really, really lazy.

In the end, I felt like I was beholden to Facebook for everything.

As a web developer and social media junkie, it’s the hardest thing to do but after all Facebook is only one conduit for interacting with others. This year I decided I was going to make my relationships more meaningful. It means others are going to have to make the same effort in return.

Roll on 2012.