ESchrade

Now that we’ve gotten some job processing code done, let’s get into the good stuff. The first thing we’re going to look at is the storage mechanism in SimpleCloud. The example we used was uploading an image to the server so it could be resized for viewing at multiple resolutions or junk. Now, you could simply attach the file contents to the job class, serialize it and unserialize it on the other side. But the Job Queue server is really not designed for that (nor are most other queueing applications). So what we’re going to do is use the Storage mechanism in SimpleCloud (in this case, S3) to store the files temporarily and then for the resized versions.

We have so far looked at setting the stage and managing the job. How about executing the job itself? The job we will look at here will be relatively generic. I will get into more detail after I have talked about the SimpleCloud elements. This, here, is simply to show you the theory behind how jobs are executed.

The abstract class is pretty simple.

In the previous installment I talked a little about the cloud, what Zend is doing in the cloud and what the example application for my ZPCAP webinar did. One of the primary characteristics of scalability is the ability to process data as resources are available. To do that I implemented the Zend Server Job Queue with an abstraction layer that I’ve written about three different versions for. I think the fourth will be the charm .

Earlier in December I did a webinar on the Zend PHP Cloud Application Platform. It’s not some new product or anything like that, but rather a view of how our software is going to fit together. It’s not something that will be “released” in the typical software fashion. Instead it is the mindset of our product development teams when they look at building new features. Cloud-based pricing for Zend Server, AWS/Cloud integration in Zend Studio, and, of course, SimpleCloud.

So, I work in software and so I know that sometimes a software vendor is not able to do things in as streamlined a manner as possible. However, Cakewalk has taken the cake (no pun intended) when it comes to doing whatever they can to piss off their customers. I have been using (and upgrading) Cakewalk software for almost 10 years. When their new X1 was announced I was all kinds of giddy. When it was released I was even more so… until I tried to upgrade.

On the ZF-general mailing list there was a discussion that was occuring about the cost of Zend Studio. I started writing a response but saw that it was getting kind of long so I decided to turn it into a blog posting.

The first question I’ll address is that of cost. When you look at what other similarly-featured IDE’s cost, we’re actually pretty good. Flash Builder 4 is $250 for the standard, $800 for the premium version. Visual Studio is $300. IntelliJ is $599. So, from an Apples-Oranges, throw everyone in the same bucket, IDE comparison, Studio is about where everyone else is, or better, from a pricing perspective.