What is WASP?
WASP is a powerful web application framework built on PHP 5. WASP strives to allow web developers to make great applications with more fun and less code, but in the familiar playground of PHP.
Why use WASP?
WASP was written from the ground up in pure Object Oriented PHP5. WASP fully utilizes all of the enhancements made to PHP in version 5.
This means you use less code to create enterprise class applications.
This isn't your hacker's PHP.
Is WASP ready to be used?
WASP is already being used in a number of in-production solutions developed by PangoMedia.
WASP Eclipse Plugin (Alpha) Released
Download the WASP Eclipse Plugin to try out WASP development in the familiar eclipse environment. This is still an Alpha release, so please send feedback / bug reports to the mailing lists. We'll work on getting some documentation for it up soon. Thanks to Jason Nichols of PangoMedia for developing this tool.
Digg PHP's Scalability and Performance - O'Reilly Blog
Brian Fioca wrote a blog entry at ONLamp discussing PHP Scalability and Performance:
I knew that several hugely popular Web 2.0 applications were written in scripting languages like PHP, so I contacted Owen Byrne - Senior Software Engineer at digg.com to learn how he addressed any problems they encountered during their meteoric growth. This article addresses the all-to-common false assumptions about the cost of scalability and performance in PHP applications.
International PHP Magazine - Add Sting to PHP Apps with WASP Patterns
Add Sting to PHP Apps with WASP Patterns, is the featured cover story in the April edition of International PHP Magazine.
Any major web application requires some form of user registration and login capability, but why start from scratch each time? Brian Fioca uses this as the setting to introduce some user interface and MVC design patterns using WASP, with a touch of AJAX to boot. What more could a PHP 5 developer want? The cover story will demonstrate the power and simplicity of developing PHP applications using the WASP Framework through the illustration of a simple user module design pattern.
Jobby is Launched - Web 2.0 Resume and Skills Tracker
Jobby is a Web 2.0 Resume and Skills tracker written entirely in WASP. Jobby is a new way to think about resumes that lets you show off your qualifications and make it easy for hiring mangers to find you. Jobby uses a slick tag-based qualification entry interface and AJAX powered search filters based on category, name, level, location, and more.
Create a profile and check it out!
IBM developerWorks: Going dynamic with PHP
IBM has posted an article on developerWorks that discusses the dynamic OO nature of PHP 5 that WASP was built to take advantage of:
The introduction of new object-oriented programming (OOP) features in PHP V5 has significantly raised the level of functionality in this programming language. Not only can you have private, protected, and public member variables and functions -- just as you would in the Java™, C++, or C# programming languages -- but you can also create objects that bend at runtime, creating new methods and member variables on the fly. You can't do that with the Java, C++, or C# languages.
WASP 1.2 Released
To install:
$ pear install --onlyreqdeps http://wasp.sourceforge.net/WASP-1.2.tgz
To upgrade:
$ pear upgrade --onlyreqdeps http://wasp.sourceforge.net/WASP-1.2.tgz
Read How to use form validation in WASP 1.2 for information on how to use the new features in this new version.
Happy WASPing!
ONLamp: Simplify PHP Development with WASP
This article demonstrates how to build a small database-driven application: a simple task list web application. This example is short, however it demonstrates most of the powerful features that WASP has to offer.
What's new for WASP 1.2
WASP 1.2, scheduled for release on 1/30/06, includes functions to make form validation automatic and easy to do. It also includes a library of validation functions that you can use to validate common things like phone numbers, zip codes and dates. These functions will conveniently output standard error messages that you can easily override or customize.
WASP Release Roadmap
Roadmap of Future Releases
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- Form Validation and Error Messages
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Release 1.3 - Spring 06 Release - Dev Manager: Peter House
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- Hive Component architecture and API for plugins
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Release 1.4 - TBD Release - Dev Manager: Matt Childs(?)
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- AJAX and Web Services
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Release 2.0 - TBD Release - Dev Manager: Jason Nichols
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- Page Widgets, Internationalization, Distributed Session Management, TBD
WASP Community
WASP is growing! Participate in the WASP community as a developer, tester, or just submit feature requests that you'd like to see in upcoming versions.
