Preface

Small things lead to big things. In August 2006, I decided to write a short getting-started tutorial on Zend Framework (for version 0.1.4!). Many people read it and fixed my errors for me, which was nice. In October 2006, Ben Ramsey contacted me via IRC and asked if I were interested in writing a book about Zend Framework. Apparently Chris Shiflett had recommended me, as he’d read my tutorial and other musings on Zend Framework-related topics and thought I could write. Simple mistake, really!

Ben put me in touch with Mike Stephens of Manning, and I agreed to outline a book about Zend Framework. He introduced me to Marjan Bace who worked with me through the process of getting the outline together. Marjan’s kind words and encouragement helped tremendously. By the time we knew what the book would be about, I believed I could write it, and I started in January 2007.

By May, we all realized that I’m not the fastest writer in the world, and if we wanted a book out this decade, we needed some help! Nick Lo and, later, Steven Brown kindly answered the call for help, and their enthusiasm has ensured that the book was completed. Nick also proved much more capable at graphics than I, and the diagrams are a pleasure to look at as a result!

While writing the book, Zend Framework matured with 1.0, 1.5, and 1.6 releases. (Version 1.6 was released late into the development cycle of the book, and while we cover it, we do not cover the new Dojo integration features.) We have watched Zend Framework grow from a collection of essentially untested code into the mature, stable code base that it is now. Thousands of developers, myself included, use Zend Framework as the base upon which they build their websites and applications. I hope that this book will enable you to join us.

ROB ALLEN