Calvin Freitas

Installing, Configuring, and Using the XHP PHP Extension by Facebook

Calvin Freitas — Thu, 11 Feb 2010 00:07:08 +0000

Facebook announced the release of XHP yesterday. It is an extension for PHP which provides enhancements to the PHP language syntax and gives the language some convenient capabilities.

In this post I will provide you links to the essential sources of information about XHP, show some XHP sample code, and discuss the installation process for XHP on Ubuntu with Apache and PHP5.

The Essential Information
Download XHP at GitHub
How XHP Works
Building XHP
Configuring XHP

Example XHP Sample Code (View Code in Action):

 element
$head =
  
   {$title}
  ;

#create a div
$div =
  
    {$title}
  ;

$body =
  
    {$div}
    
      My name is {$name} and you should go visit my website now.
      Read my guide to installing XHP on Ubuntu. It includes the source code for this page. Comments and corrections are welcome.
    
  ;

echo

  {$head}
  {$body}
;
?>

A few syntax notes
XHP forces you to properly nest tags — make sure you close them properly or it won’t compile and it will throw errors. Because XHP auto-escapes, when you’re creating a link (such as in an a element), you don’t need to put quotes around it.

guide to installing XHP on Ubuntu

Installing XHP on Ubuntu
Server: Ubuntu 9.10 running on a slice at the Rackspace Cloud.
Web server: Apache 2
Apache installation guide (Slicehost article, but generally applicable)

Below I will go into more detail about the installation process.

There are packages for all the prerequisites in Ubuntu (installation will be similar on Debian, though package names my vary).

sudo apt-get install php5 php5-common php5-cli php5-dev libapache2-mod-php5
sudo apt-get install build-essential gcc flex bison re2c

The package manager will include other prerequisite packages.

After you’ve installed these packages, download the latest tagged release of XHP from GitHub to your server.

Then, you’ll need to make it. Unzip/untar the file, go to that directory, and run the following commands. (Use sudo as necessary.)
phpize ./configure make make install

Note regarding make test: the tests failed for me because it wasn’t finding my currently installed PHP5 modules. I ran make install and it worked anyway. There should be a way to include the modules path in the compilation, but at this time I have not found it.

After installing the module, you must configure Apache to include the XHP module in the php.ini file. On my system, the file is located in /etc/php5/apache2. Find the line with extension_dir — mine is the following:
extension_dir = "/usr/lib/php5/20060613/"

In /etc/php5/apache2/conf.d, create a file called xhp.ini.
xhp.ini
#load xhp extension=xhp.so

Now, at this point everything should work, but some users are reporting issues with XHP on Ubuntu systems, but there is a solution – you may need to include files from the php-lib folder (in the source code folder where you ran make). See the “require_once” function used in the sample code above.

Sam Javanrouh: city on ice

Calvin Freitas — Wed, 23 Dec 2009 17:58:25 +0000

Sam Javanrouh is my favorite photographer at present. He takes incredible photographs and also does the occasional video. The video below, Toronto on Ice, is one such example.

Visit his website [daily dose of imagery] here.

WordPress 2.9 Released

Calvin Freitas — Sat, 19 Dec 2009 23:35:36 +0000

WordPress 2.9 has been released and is available for download. The most important new features are a new “trash” system for deleting posts or comments, a built-in image editor, batch plugin updating, and easier video embedding.

On a related note, Elitwee MyTwitter 3.0.3 is compatible with WordPress 2.9 and is a great way to include your tweets as a widget on your WordPress blog.

PHP 5 Library for Posterous API

Calvin Freitas — Wed, 09 Dec 2009 08:05:55 +0000

I have written a PHP 5 library for the Posterous API. It uses the curl extension to query the Posterous API, retrieves the XML, and returns the XML as a SimpleXMLElement.

Read more information about my Posterous API library for PHP 5 or clone the code on GitHub.

Elitwee MyTwitter 3 Plugin for Wordpress Released

Calvin Freitas — Thu, 03 Dec 2009 21:41:36 +0000

The Elitwee MyTwitter 3 Plugin for WordPress has been released and is available for download now from the WordPress Plugins Directory.

Description: Elitwee MyTwitter is a simple tweet widget and status updater for WordPress.

What’s New?: This new version allows you to easily add one-or-more Twitter widgets to any widget-enabled WordPress theme. You can also post updates to Twitter directly from the plugin’s Settings page. It is compatible with WordPress 2.8 and higher.

Download
View Screenshots
View Additional Information

Updated Design

Calvin Freitas — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 01:13:22 +0000

I’ve updated the custom theme for my website! Look at it now.

I spent today finishing the code for the custom WordPress theme I use to power the layout and design of the site. Many thanks to Jason Oxrieder for doing the graphic design work behind the new look!

The new design is just one example of the custom WordPress development I am able to do. I provide WordPress consulting and can answer questions about topics related to customization, themes, plugins, settings, system administration, and more.

Technology, Faith, and Human Shortcomings – Billy Graham at TED

Calvin Freitas — Sat, 31 Oct 2009 21:07:16 +0000

Rev. Billy Graham gave a talk at the TED conference in 1998 regarding Technology, Faith, and Human Shortcomings. I’ve embedded it below or you can download the MP3 or video at the TED page.

What It’s Like

Calvin Freitas — Mon, 26 Oct 2009 19:01:47 +0000

Paul Graham has an excellent essay entitled “What Startups are Really Like.” Read it here.

I found myself surprised at how often I agreed with the words of PG or the entrepreneurs he quoted within. My experience working at Athleon has taught me many of the lessons he mentions within his essay. Particularly, the lesson that entrepreneurs work on a different time-flow than the rest of the world, and the emotional roller coaster a startup can be.

Over the course of the past year, I have loved working with Brent, Ryan, Jason, and Dan on Athleon and I am incredibly proud of the product and how far it has come in a year. With this small team of 5 (now 4), we have launched All Team Apparel, the Game Film beta, an updated version of Playbooks, and rewritten large components of the back-end code (running on Debian Linux, Apache 2, MySQL, and Perl with some features written in Flex/AS3) to prepare the site to scale for future growth.

Nobody says startup life is easy. The past year has not been, but I wouldn’t do things differently. The lessons I’ve learned have been valuable, hard-earned, and worth it.

WordCamp Seattle 2009

Calvin Freitas — Tue, 18 Aug 2009 17:33:05 +0000

WordCamp is coming to Seattle! Bloggers from all over the Northwest will meet to network, share knowledge and experiences, all while learning from some of the biggest names on the web.

Centered on the world’s most popular blogging platform – WordPress – this is THE event to learn about the blogging tool used by millions of consumers and businesses alike. WordPress powers some of the world’s most visited sites and blog networks.

WordCamp Seattle 2009 is happening on September 26, and runs from 8:30am to 5:15pm at the Adobe office building in Fremont. Tickets for the event cost $25 and can be bought at http://wordcampseattle.eventbrite.com/.

The keynote speakers for the event are Chris Pirillo (Lockergnome) and Liz Strauss (Successful & Outstanding Bloggers).

Great Men

Calvin Freitas — Fri, 17 Jul 2009 05:45:53 +0000

“Great men would be less great if they were not aware of their own defects and limitations.” – John T. McNeill

(This quote is found in the foreword to “The Humanness of John Calvin” by Richard Stauffer translated by George Shriver.)