About us
Welcome to PHP Thames Valley – a user group for PHP developers of all levels, from beginners to seasoned professionals.
PHP Thames Valley is the result of the exciting merger between the PHP Oxford and PHP Berkshire user groups, combining two brilliant communities to form a larger, stronger group. By bringing together PHP enthusiasts from across the Thames Valley, we aim to create an even more enriching environment for learning, sharing knowledge, and networking.
We meet monthly, alternating between Oxford and Reading, and each event features talks from experienced developers, exploring a wide range of topics related to PHP and the broader web development ecosystem.
Whether you're a seasoned expert in Laravel, Symfony, WordPress, Drupal, Zend, CakePHP, or any other PHP framework - or just starting your PHP journey - you’ll find something of value at our meetups.
Our events offer opportunities to learn from inspiring speakers, engage in discussions, and connect with other developers. We also welcome social meet-ups and informal networking, where you can exchange ideas and grow your professional network.
Join us at PHP Thames Valley to stay up-to-date with the latest in PHP development, gain fresh insights, and be part of a supportive, growing community.
Upcoming events
1
Oxford — Escaping the Code Maze by Yannick Chenot
The Oxford Retreat, 1-2 Hythe Bridge Street, Oxford, GBHello Oxford, long time no see! 👋
We're excited to be back at The Oxford Retreat at the first day of October who've kindly welcomed us back and supporting our meetup.
The venue is about a 2-minute walk from Oxford Station, next to the Castle Mill Stream. We'll be on the first floor — the stairs are at the back, behind the bar.
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Escaping the Code Maze by Yannick Chenot
Exploring a code base is like navigating a maze with a partial map. While some paths are correctly indicated, some are mislabelled or turn out to be dead ends. Take a childless class not marked as final, for instance – the keyword’s absence is like a sign pointing to a dark tunnel leading nowhere.
How many such paths do we accidentally – or deliberately – leave open? This presentation introduces the Closed-by-Default Principle, a reframing of existing principles focussed on keeping those paths shut, relieving the developer’s cognitive load in the process.
It is also an exploration of PHP’s evolution over time, each version introducing features to keep the maze as navigable as possible. We’ll also see how to leverage static analysis tools to automate the corresponding rules, giving developers the assurance that all paths lead somewhere.
About the speaker: Yannick has been working with PHP since 2007. Originally from Brittany, France, he's now based in Brighton, he's founder of Yellow Raincoat and a co-organiser of PHP Sussex.
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A big thank to our community sponsor Humand Talent for supporting the Oxfordshire and Berkshire PHP communities.
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Planned schedule of the evening:
- 18:30 – Arrival
- 19:00 – Talk
- 20:00 – Networking
- 20:30 – End of the event
5 attendees
Past events
74
