The document discusses tools to improve a LAMP web development stack. It recommends source control, development platforms, task tracking, automated testing, static analysis, automated deployment, and continuous integration. These tools enable collaboration, testing, deployment automation, and integration of code changes. Specific open source tools are recommended for each category like Git, PHPUnit, PHP Code Sniffer, and Jenkins. The document argues these tools improve workflow, quality, and speed of development.

1. Tool Up Your LAMP Stack

2. About Me
• Lorna Mitchell
• Web Development Consultant
• Speaker and Author
• Website: http://lornajane.net
• Twitter: @lornajane
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3. LAMP
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4. LAMP
• Linux
• Apache
• MySQL
• PHP (or Perl, or Python)
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5. Technology and Agile

6. Technology is not the
problem
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7. Technology is not the
solution
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8. Technology
• We need good tools
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9. Technology
• We need good tools
• They enable our workflow
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10. Technology
• We need good tools
• They enable our workflow
• They facilitate our achievements
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11. Technology
• We need good tools
• They enable our workflow
• They facilitate our achievements
• They allow us to meet our deadlines
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12. Technology
• We need good tools
• They enable our workflow
• They facilitate our achievements
• They allow us to meet our deadlines
• They are not the silver bullet (sorry)
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13. Iterative Development
develop deploy
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14. The Main Ingredients
Preparation time: some years
Ingredients:
• Source control
• Development platforms
• Task tracking
• Automated testing
• Static analysis
• Automated deployment
• Continuous integration
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15. Source Control

16. Source Control: Key Ingredient
• Central, canonical version
• Collaboration point
• Historical information
• what changed
• when
• by whom
• Can include its own config
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17. Source Control Tools
• Subversion http://subversion.apache.org/
• Git http://git-scm.com/
• Mercurial http://mercurial.selenic.com/
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18. Branching Strategies
Common patterns:
• Feature branches
• Version branches
• Live/integration branches
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19. Traditional Centralised Source Control
repo
checkout checkout checkout
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20. Distributed Source Control
repo
repo
repo
repo
repo 16

21. Database Version Control
No silver bullet to keep code and database schema in sync
Strategies:
• All db changes done via script
• Scripts are numbered
• Database knows what numbers it already has
Tools:
• homespun scripts
• DbDeploy http://dbdeploy.com/
• Liquibase http://www.liquibase.org/
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22. Development Platforms

23. Development Platforms
Requirements:
• Safe area "sandpit" for developers to work
• All software as-live
• Isolated
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24. Task Tracking

25. Task Tracking
Once called ’bug tracking’.
We can track what status everything is in.
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26. Task Tracking
Once called ’bug tracking’.
We can track what status everything is in.
Developers understand bug trackers, bug trackers understand your
workflow.
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27. Workflow
Backlog Sprint
Active
Blocked Verify
Complete
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28. Task Tracking Tools
• Pivotal Tracker http://www.pivotaltracker.com/
• GreenHopper
http://www.atlassian.com/software/greenhopper/
• Trac http://trac.edgewall.org/
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29. Automated Testing

30. How do you test a website
?
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31. How do you test a website
repeatedly
?
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32. Automated Testing
Gives repeatable results
TDD Test-Driven Development
BDD Behaviour-Driven Development
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33. Automated Testing Tools
• Selenium: browser-based record and play of tests
• Selenium IDE http://seleniumhq.org/projects/ide/
• Selenium RC
http://seleniumhq.org/projects/remote-control/
• PHPUnit: unit testing and automation
• http://phpunit.de
• Also generates code coverage graphs
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34. My First Unit Test
require_once '../src/models/MathUtilModel.php';
class MathUtilModelTest extends PHPUnit_Framework_TestCase {
public function testAddNumbersWithNumbers() {
$util = new MathUtilModel();
$result = $util->addNumbers(3,5);
$this->assertEquals(8, $result);
}
}
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35. Running One Test
To run our tests, from the tests directory do:
phpunit models/MathUtilModel
Output:
PHPUnit 3.5.13 by Sebastian Bergmann.
.
Time: 0 seconds, Memory: 3.00Mb
OK (1 test, 1 assertion)
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36. Testable Code
• Testable code is clean and modular
• Need to be able to separate elements to test
• Each function does one thing
• Not too many paths through the code
• Dependencies are dangerous
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37. Dependency Injection
Passing things in or looking them up.
function getData() {
$db = new MyDatabaseObject();
// sql and query
}
function getData($db) {
// sql and query
}
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38. Code Coverage
What percentage of your code is tested?
• Summary view
• Drill in to see which lines are run by tests
• Beware: 100% code coverage does not mean fully tested
Use phpunit -coverage-html and specify where PHPUnit should
write the report files
Examples from http://jenkins.joind.in
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39. Code Coverage
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40. Code Coverage
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41. Static Analysis

42. Static Analysis
Evaluating code without running it
Allows us to check for quality, commenting, coding standards
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43. Static Analysis Tools
• PHP Code Sniffer: checks for coding standards
• http://pear.php.net/PHP_CodeSniffer
• PHP Mess Detector: detects ’bad smells’
• http://phpmd.org/
• PHP Lines of Code: project size, class count
• https://github.com/sebastianbergmann/phploc
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44. phploc Sample Output (joind.in)
Directories: 32
Files: 213
Lines of Code (LOC): 21339
Cyclomatic Complexity / Lines of Code: 0.10
Comment Lines of Code (CLOC): 4908
Non-Comment Lines of Code (NCLOC): 16431
Namespaces: 0
Interfaces: 0
Classes: 87
Abstract: 1 (1.15%)
Concrete: 86 (98.85%)
Average Class Length (NCLOC): 116
Methods: 532
Scope:
Non-Static: 532 (100.00%)
Static: 0 (0.00%)
Visibility:
Public: 501 (94.17%)
Non-Public: 31 (5.83%)
Average Method Length (NCLOC): 18 39

45. API Documentation
Another form of static analysis is to generate documentation
• Commented documentation in each file, class, function
• Automatically generate into readable documents
• Tools:
• PHPDocumentor http://www.phpdoc.org/
• DocBlox http://www.docblox-project.org/
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46. API Documentation
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47. PHPCS Examples
Install:
pear install PHP_CodeSniffer
Run:
phpcs --standard=PEAR example.php
Examples taken from http://bit.ly/kedQrU
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48. PHPCS Examples
Source code:
class recipe
{
protected $_id;
public $name;
public $prep_time;
function getIngredients() {
$ingredients = Ingredients::fetchAllById($this->_id);
return $ingredients;
}
}
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49. PHPCS Examples
Sniffer output:
FILE: /home/lorna/phpcs/recipe.class.php
----------------------------------------------------------------------
FOUND 8 ERROR(S) AND 0 WARNING(S) AFFECTING 5 LINE(S)
----------------------------------------------------------------------
2 | ERROR | Missing file doc comment
3 | ERROR | Class name must begin with a capital letter
3 | ERROR | Missing class doc comment
6 | ERROR | Protected member variable "_id" must not be prefixed wit
| | underscore
12 | ERROR | Missing function doc comment
12 | ERROR | Opening brace should be on a new line
13 | ERROR | Line indented incorrectly; expected at least 8 spaces, f
13 | ERROR | Spaces must be used to indent lines; tabs are not allowe
----------------------------------------------------------------------
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50. Automated Deployment

51. Automated Deployment
• How many times do you deploy an agile project?
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52. Automated Deployment
• How many times do you deploy an agile project?
• Fast
• Hardened
• Painless
• Repeatable
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53. Automated Deployment Tools
• Phing/Ant: easy automated build scripts
• http://phing.info/
• http://ant.apache.org/
• Capistrano (or Webistrano): scripted releases (with web interface)
• https://github.com/capistrano/capistrano
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54. Automating Deployment: Why
• Minimise mistakes
• Save time on each deploy
• Better than documentation
• Reliable process - use for different platforms
• Scope for rollback
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55. Automating Deployment: What
• Application code
• minimal downtime or time in an inconsistent state
• easy rollback
• additional setup steps (upload files, etc) also automated
• Database
• apply database patches
• include rollback patches
• Config changes
• useful for large or complex sites
• config deploys separately, can update quickly and easily
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56. Code Deployment
• Get a clean copy of code
• Place in new directory on server
• Perform any other preparation tasks
• Change symlink in web directory to point to new version
• Tools: shell script or ant/phing
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57. Config Deployment
• Exactly like code deployment
• Application needs to be designed with this in mind
• Default to live config
• Environment variables set in vhost
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58. Phing Example
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<project name="example" basedir="." default="deploy">
<property name="builddir" value="./build" />
<property name="appdir" value="./build/code" />
<tstamp><format property="date" pattern="%Y%m%d-%H%M" /></tsta
<target name="deploy" depends="clean, prepare, export, putlive
<target name="export">
<exec command="svn export ${repo} ${appdir}/${date}" />
</target>
<target name="putlive">
<exec command="scp -r ${appdir}/${date} ${destination}
> ${builddir}/logs/scp.log" />
</target>
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59. Phing Example Cont’d
<target name="clean">
<delete dir="${builddir}" />
</target>
<target name="prepare">
<mkdir dir="${builddir}" />
<mkdir dir="${builddir}/logs" />
</target>
</project>
Phing can also handle upload directories, database versioning, other
deployment recipe steps and post deploy tasks
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60. Continuous Integration

61. Continuous Integration
The glue that holds everything together!
• Source control commit triggers:
• Static analysis tools
• Automated tests
• Document generation
• CI system centralises:
• Deployment (to various platforms)
• Other tasks, cron jobs
• Centralised dashboard and reporting
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62. Continuous Integration Tools
• Jenkins (née Hudson)
• http://jenkins-ci.org/
• PHPUnderControl (PHP-specific CruiseControl project)
• http://phpundercontrol.org/
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63. Tool Up Your LAMP Stack

64. The Main Ingredients for LAMP
Preparation time: some years
Ingredients:
• Source control
• Development platforms
• Task tracking
• Automated testing
• Static analysis
• Automated deployment
• Continuous integration
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65. Questions?

66. Thanks
• Website: http://lornajane.net
• Twitter: @lornajane
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67. Image Credits
• LAMP http://www.flickr.com/photos/sewpixie/2059308961
• Sandpit
http://www.flickr.com/photos/giltastic/3159081924
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