Sebastian Bergmann

In an effort to end the year on a high note, I have released a first preview release of PHPUnit 3.4 today.

The highlights of this new release series include:

• Support for optionally executing each test using a separate PHP process
• Support for exploiting dependencies between tests to improve defect localization
• Support for mocking SOAP web services based on their WSDL specification
• A rewrite of the code generator that is used by the mock object system

The complete ChangeLog is also available.

PHPUnit 3.4.0alpha1 is not feature-complete and should not be used in production.

Please have a look at the new features and test whether this new version of PHPUnit can run your test suite without problems.

• Fixed #425: Code Coverage fails if array from Xdebug is not sorted. [4370]
• Fixed #660: PHPUnit_Framework_Assert::getObjectedAttribute() fails for inherited private attributes. [4385]
• Implemented #659: Implement workaround for PHP bug #46064. [4360]

I will visit Rome next March to speak at the PHPCon Italia 2009 conference. I will present a full-day workshop as well as two regular conference sessions.

Workshop: Quality Assurance in PHP Projects

Now that we know how to build applications that "just work", are fast and scalable, as well as secure, the next logical step is to implement processes and use techniques that help us assure that the software works correctly throughout the software’s lifecycle. This workshop will introduce the attendees to writing unit tests for the backend and system tests for the frontend of a web application as well as managing the quality from development to deployment and maintainance using tools such as PHPUnit, Selenium RC, phpUnderControl, PHP_CodeSniffer, and PHP_Depend.

Of Lambda Functions, Closures and Traits

Lambda Functions and Closures allow the quick definition of throw-away functions (for use with array_map(), for instance) that are not used elsewhere. Traits reduce some limitations of single inheritance by enabling the reuse method sets freely in several independent classes. This session introduces the audience to the implementation of Lambda Functions and Closures that were added in PHP 5.3 and Traits that will be added for PHP 5.4 or PHP 6.

Map, Filter, Reduce - In the Small and in the Cloud

PHP is not a full-fledged functional language, but it supports some very useful functional idioms such as Map, Filter, and Reduce. Google's MapReduce programming model builds upon the combination of map and reduce in a parallel computing environment. This session covers the foundations of Map/Reduce and scales this concept to the "Computing Cloud" level using Apache Hadoop.

See you in Rome!

• Fixed #425: Code Coverage fails if array from Xdebug is not sorted. [4270]
• Fixed #649: Fatal error: Unsupported operand types in /usr/share/php/PHPUnit/Framework/ComparisonFailure/Scalar.php on line 78. [4287]
• Fixed #650: PHPUnit tries to include non-existent bootstrap file. [4303]

• Implemented #636: clearstatcache() after setUp() and before test. [4174]
• Fixed #500: Bump requirement for PEAR package to version 1.7.1. [4198]
• Fixed #612: Bootstrap file is not included before including test files. [4228]
• Fixed #628: Mocked static methods cause fatal errors. [4144]
• Fixed #629: @expectedException does not work with the new namespace separator. [4140]