preg_replace gotchas

I’ve been reading Professional PHP for a few weeks now and I’m really enjoying it. It is one of the few blogs out there that actually writes about code and coding in general. For example, their latest post gives a quick overview of some gotchas with the php function preg_replace. Professional PHP gives some good pointers about how to remove those unwanted extra slashes and things of that nature.

Check out Professional PHP here.

Tags: php, code, coding, programming

Visual Studio Express Free for One Year

Yesterday (Nov. 7, 2005) Microsoft released “Express” Editions of Visual Studio and SQL Server. These new editions to the Visual Studio lineup come with a free 1 year license.

What is an Express Edition? From the mouth of the beast itself:

The Express Editions are an expansion of the Visual Studio and SQL Server product line to include lightweight, easy-to-use, and easy-to-learn tools for hobbyists, students, and novice developers who want to build dynamic Windows applications, Web sites, and Web services.

Express Editions are available for: VB.NET, Visual C#, Visual C++, Visual J# and an edition built especially for dynamic web development creatively titled Web Developer. Also available for download is SQL Server Express Edition. SQL Server Express Edition is a replacement for the SQL Desktop Engine that came bundled with past editions Visual Studio. It is designed mainly for building and testing data-driven applications.

Average download size is between 35-70Mb per Express Edition. I know you may be wondering about licensing restrictions, but rest assured, commercial use is allowed (straight from their FAQ sheet “there are no licensing restrictions for applications built using the Express Editions”).

Optional components are also available such as the MSDN Express Library.

Tags: Microsoft, Visual Studio, .NET, Developer, VS.NET, VB.NET, C#, C++, J#, SQL, SQL Server, MSDN