1. Set up impossible deadlines.
2. Let them work overtime.
3. Don’t allow breaks.
4. Place a ban on laughing.
5. Break the coffee machine.
6. Don’t shield them from the dirty daily business.
7. Don’t challenge them.
8. Underpay them.
9. Bribe them.
10. Infiltrate a team member who is demotivated anyway.

Seen on Manuel Klimex

You can read more about it on the Official Google Webmaster Blog.

class Person
{
    private $name;
    private $email;

    public static function withName($name)
    {
        $person       = new Person();
        $person->name = $name;

        return $person;
    }

    public static function withEmail($email)
    {
        $person        = new Person();
        $person->email = $email;

        return $person;
    }

    public static function fullPerson($name, $email)
    {
        $person        = new Person();
        $person->name  = $name;
        $person->email = $email;

        return $person;
    }
}

We have a class called Person which contains 2 private attributes: name and email. It also has 3 static methods: withName, withEmail and fullPerson. These methods will behave like constructors.

So if we want to create a Person object just with the name value, we can do it using the following statement:

$person = Person::withName('Example');

1. 75-85 characters per line: Each line must contains approximately 75-85 characters. If a line exceeds more than 85 characters, consider splitting the line into multiple lines. It will be helpful for code readability. You can see a great post on this topic in Paul Jones’ blog. He talks about why this limitation is not really arbitrary, and he puts some brilliant examples such as this one:

   Bad

   list($foo, $bar, $baz) = array(Zim::getVal('foo'), Dib::getVal('bar'), Gir::getVal('baz', Gir::DOOM));
   

   Good

   $foo = Zim::getVal('foo');
   $bar = Dib::getVal('bar');
   $baz = Gir::getVal('baz', Gir::DOOM);
   

2. Assignment statements: Assignment statements ought be aligned for better readability. Let’s see an example:

   Bad

   
   $example = 'string_value';
   $anotherExample = 42;
   $exampleInst = new ExampleClass();
   

   Good

   
   $example        = 'string_value';
   $anotherExample = 42;
   $exampleInst    = new ExampleClass();
   

3. 4-spaces block indentation: Use an indent of 4 spaces with no tabs. It helps to avoid problems with diffs, patches and SVN history. It helps the readability as well. Usually tabs are 8 spaces length, which means a 5th-block indent starts 40 spaces from the left border (nearly to 50% of a code line).
   

   
   {block1}
       {block2}
           {block3}
               ...
   
   

4. Control & conditional structures: These statements must have one space between the control keyword (if, else, for, while, …) and the opening parenthesis, to distinguish them from function calls (which obviously don’t have a space). It’s nice to always use curly braces because they help to decreases the likelihood of logic errors.

   
   if ($display === 1) {
       while ($obj->next()) {
           echo $obj->toString();
       }
   }
   
   

5. Class and function/methods declarations: Class and function/methods declarations have their opening brace on a new line.

   
   class Foo
   {
       private $_obj;
   
       public function __construct($obj)
       {
           $this->_obj = $obj;
       }
   }
   

6. Comma-space between items of a list: When we list some items, it’s nice to separate them clearly with a comma followed by a space.

   BAD

   
   $example = array(Foo::get('key',2),$value,true);
   

   GOOD

   
   $example = array(Foo::get('key', 2), $value, true);
   

7. Use constants properly: If we have a method which returns some status codes, it’s nice to use literal constants. Having descriptive constants helps to make better intelligible code. For example:

   BAD

   
   class Foo
   {
       public static function getStatus()
       {
           $res = 0;
   
           if (!self::isValid()) {
               $res = 1;
           }
           ...
   
           if ($res === 0 && self::isRepeated()) {
               $res = 2;
           }
   
           return $res;
       }
   }
   

   GOOD

   
   class Foo
   {
       const STATUS_SUCCESS  = 0;
       const STATUS_FAILURE  = 1;
       const STATUS_REPEATED = 2;
   
       public static function getStatus()
       {
           $res = self::STATUS_SUCCESS;
   
           if (!self::isValid()) {
               $res = self::STATUS_FAILURE;
           }
   
           ...
   
           if ($res === self::STATUS_SUCCESS && self::isRepeated()) {
               $res = self::STATUS_REPEATED;
           }
   
           return $res;
       }
   }
   

These tips are just some coding style tips. If we really want to write intelligible code, we would keep in mind many more things like to use software patterns, to make use of well established software practises, …

Plurk is a new microblogging based application. It lets to publish from texts (140 characters) to multimedia files such as pictures and videos. The most revolutionary feature that Plurk brings to us is the original timeline. When you take up using it, it can be a bit confusing, but you can get used quickly. I like how the system let the user knows new updates as well. I think Plurk could be a nice alternative to Twitter, but I have some questions:

• Why don’t they make a search engine for users? When you start using Plurk, it’s complicated to find friends
• Why don’t they let upload ours own files directly onto the system?

You can follow me on http://plurk.com/user/alfonsojimenez

Pienso en ti cuando estoy triste y cuando estoy feliz, cuando me siento arropado y cuando me siento solo, cuando río y cuando lloro, cuando gano y cuando pierdo, tú siempre estás ahí. Eres la estrella que me guía, mi razón de ser, el motivo por el cual merece la pena vivir.

Cuando no estoy contigo me siento perdido, necesito tu presencia. Echo de menos los pequeños detalles que me das cada día; el latido de tu corazón, los abrazos de media noche, el aliento de tu boca cuando me besas cada mañana, el brillo de tus ojos verdes, cuando me dices I love you baby, tu dorada melena al caer el sol, tu bella sonrisa, y es que echo de menos hasta el aire que respiras. Aunque tal vez no puedas enteder todas estas palabras, no te preocupes cariño, que yo te las explico con el lenguaje de mis besos.