PHP and JavaScript Innovation Award Report January 2015 Edition - October 2014 nominees

This is the latest podcast hangout episode on the PHP Innovation Award  and the JavaScript Innovation Award about the nominees of October 2014.

We comment only on past nominees to avoid influencing the voting results. This way we are only talking of packages published already in October. The nominees of October were voted on November. In December the results were announced.

You may listen to the audio recording, or watch the hangout video, or read the transcript below.

JavaScript Innovation Award Nominees of October 2014 (0:20)

Rank	Class	Author		Score	Points	Prize
1	jQuery Dialog AJAX Content Open dialog windows using HTML retrieved via AJAX	Andi P. Trix		100.00%	3	One book of choice by Packt
2	JavaScript Holiday Dates Calculator for the dates of different holidays	Pierre FAUQUE		<1.00%	2
2	Slim GitHub JS API Retrieve data of Github profiles and repositories	Pierre-Henry Soria		<1.00%	2

JavaScript Innovation Award Rankings of 2014 (4:19)

Award Winners by Author of 2014 Rank Author Packages Points 1 Thomas Björk 4 15 2 David Castillo 2 13 3 Pierre FAUQUE 3 12 4 JImmy Bo 4 11 5 Andoitz Jordan Marmolejo 2 10 6 Emmanuel Podvin 1 8 7 Andras Toth 2 7 8 John Diaz 1 5 8 Raul 1 5 8 Jakub Krol 1 5

Award Winners by Country of 2014 Rank Country Packages Points 1 France 5 21 2 Sweden 4 15 3 Mexico 2 13 4 Spain 3 12 5 Canada 4 11 6 Italy 3 8 7 Hungary 2 7 8 India 2 6 9 Colombia 1 5 9 Brazil 1 5

PHP Innovation Award Nominees of October 2014 (7:30)

Rank	Class	Author		Score	Points	Prize
1	PHP Check Resource Usage Retrieve the usage of machine resources	pooya sabramooz		25.00%	11	PhpStorm IDE personal permanent license
2	Punic Localize numbers, dates, units using Unicode CLDR	Michele Locati		17.50%	10	One downloadable copy of PhpED Professional
2	PHP Backup Files to FTP Send ZIP file with backup of files to a FTP server	Everton da Rosa		17.50%	10	One copy of VS.PHP
4	PHP Webcam Fetch Capture images from a remote webcam	Maik Greubel		12.50%	8	One downloadable e-book of choice by O'Reilly
5	PHP Ping Traceroute and DNS Send ping and traceroute ICMP request messages	Schroetter Christian		7.50%	7
6	PHP WOL Wake On LAN Send Wake on LAN packet to wake up computer	Radovan Janjic		5.00%	6
6	PHP Boolean Search String Convert boolean text into Google search expression	Hemant Kumar Tiwari		5.00%	6	One subscription to the PDF edition of the PHP Architect magazine
8	PHP Word Frequency Analysis Extract text frequent terms of two or more words	Alejandro Mitrou		2.50%	4
8	PHP Historic Timeline Generator Render image with a timeline of historic dates	Ihor Khomyn		2.50%	4
8	PHP Service Locator Generator Generate locator classes from configuration files	nvb		2.50%	4
8	PHP Weighted Voronoi Diagram Render an additively weighted voronoi diagram	Chi Hoang		2.50%	4

PHP Innovation Award Rankings of 2014 (19:11)

Rank	Class	Author		Score	Points	Prize
1	PHP Check Resource Usage Retrieve the usage of machine resources	pooya sabramooz		25.00%	11	PhpStorm IDE personal permanent license
2	Punic Localize numbers, dates, units using Unicode CLDR	Michele Locati		17.50%	10	One downloadable copy of PhpED Professional
2	PHP Backup Files to FTP Send ZIP file with backup of files to a FTP server	Everton da Rosa		17.50%	10	One copy of VS.PHP
4	PHP Webcam Fetch Capture images from a remote webcam	Maik Greubel		12.50%	8	One downloadable e-book of choice by O'Reilly
5	PHP Ping Traceroute and DNS Send ping and traceroute ICMP request messages	Schroetter Christian		7.50%	7
6	PHP WOL Wake On LAN Send Wake on LAN packet to wake up computer	Radovan Janjic		5.00%	6
6	PHP Boolean Search String Convert boolean text into Google search expression	Hemant Kumar Tiwari		5.00%	6	One subscription to the PDF edition of the PHP Architect magazine
8	PHP Word Frequency Analysis Extract text frequent terms of two or more words	Alejandro Mitrou		2.50%	4
8	PHP Historic Timeline Generator Render image with a timeline of historic dates	Ihor Khomyn		2.50%	4
8	PHP Service Locator Generator Generate locator classes from configuration files	nvb		2.50%	4
8	PHP Weighted Voronoi Diagram Render an additively weighted voronoi diagram	Chi Hoang		2.50%	4

Contents

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JavaScript Innovation Award Nominees of October 2014 (0:20)

Manuel Lemos: So for the JavaScript Innovation Award, we are going to talk about the nominees of October. They were voted on November. Then in December, the results came out. So we can talk about them. Arturs, which ones would you like to comment?

Arturs Sosins: Let me share the screen. The first one I would like to comment is a package named jQuery Dialog AJAX Content developed by Andi P. Trix from Romania. What this package does, it retrieves the contents to display the dialog from a server.

Basically, dynamically retrieves it via Ajax request. This could be used also like loading the template or dial-up from other remote source or something. That's why I like this one. Andi got one book of choice by Packt for this package.

The second one I wanted to comment is a package named JavaScript Holiday Dates by Pierre FAUQUE from France. Basically, this package extends the Date object, the JavaScript Date object, where it provides, as an example, where it basically calculates the holiday dates... Let me see the code here. You can see getEaster, getPaques, and now, with once, getHolidays. Basically, there are some holiday names where you can provide them how to calculate them.

Manuel Lemos: Yeah, because those are holidays. They always happen, but there is some kind of formula to calculate them because they are related. They are...

Arturs Sosins: Like first Sunday for that month and something like that.

Manuel Lemos: Yeah. So there is a way to calculate them, but not exactly a fixed day in the year.

So that one was from Pierre FAUQUE. On my behalf, I would like to comment on an interesting package. Let me share the screen here.

An interesting package from Pierre-Henry Soria, he developed a way to retrieve data from GitHub profiles and repositories. So it sends HTTP requests to GitHub API to retrieve some types information. This is interesting because GitHub is a very popular project. Many developers host their projects there and with this package, you can retrieve information about those projects.

Arturs Sosins: Or a developer can implement in their web sites to display all the repositories they maintain and stuff like that.

Manuel Lemos: Yeah, exactly. So on my behalf, that's all for now because there are only three packages.

JavaScript Innovation Award Rankings of 2014 (4:19)

Manuel Lemos: So let me comment now on the Innovation Award ranking for 2014.

We have already ended the year, but there are still some votes to compute. But so far, the leader is Thomas Bjork from Sweden, followed by David Castillo... sorry Thomas had 4 packages and 15 points, David Castillo with 2 packages and 13 points, Pierre FAUQUE 3 packages and 12 points, Jimmy Bo 4 packages and 11 points, Andoitz Jordan Marmolejo with 2 packages and 10 points, then several other authors with 1 or 2 packages and less points.

In terms of countries, so far, France continues to lead. It is in pretty good shape to win the Innovation Award of the year by country. They have 5 packages and 21 points. Then, they're followed by Sweden, 4 packages and 15 points, practically all by Thomas Bjork. And then, Mexico, with 2 packages and 13 points, Spain 3 packages and 12 points, Canada 4 packages and 11 points, Italy 2 packages and 8 points, Hungary 2 packages and 7 points, India with 2 packages and 6 points, then Colombia with 1 package and 5 points, and Brazil, 1 package and also 5 points. They are tied.

We still have one month to go. I mean, for computing the results because the nominees of December were announced just a few days ago, and they'll be voted during January. Then, in February, the results will come out, and then, we will have finally the final list of winners by author and by country for 2014.

Arturs Sosins: But what to do thereafter? Will there be the similar contest this year?

Manuel Lemos: What do you mean?

Arturs Sosins: Well, should they start submitting for the new year - the countries?

Manuel Lemos: Sorry, I did not listen.

Arturs Sosins: Like will there be the Award winners by country of 2015?

Manuel Lemos: Yes, of course. Actually, it has already started because all packages will be nominated by the end of the month. If so, if they are published already in January, they'll be nominated, of course.

PHP Innovation Award Nominees of October 2014 (7:30)

Manuel Lemos: So, now, let's talk about the Innovation Award of the PHP site, PHPClasses site. The page is up here, but it's a bit slow.

So we are going to talk about the winners of October who were nominated in November, then in December, the results come out. We have there 11 nominees. It's quite a lot. It's great to see all this action.

Arturs, which one would you like to comment?

Arturs Sosins: The first one that I would like to comment on is a package named PHP Check Resource Usage by Pooya Sabramooz from Iran. There is a ...

Manuel Lemos: Can we increase the zoom level?

Arturs Sosins: More? Like that?

Manuel Lemos: Yeah, that's fine.

Arturs Sosins: Okay. Basically what it does, it queries this usage of the server where PHP runs like CPU, hard disk. There is also a demo, for example. Here, you can see what kind of information is provided. It probably uses some kind of native components because you can't do that with... I think that was quite the feat. Do you know more about it, Manuel? No?

Manuel Lemos: Yup, sorry?

Arturs Sosins: Do you know more about how it actually does it? Because it can't be done with PHP, right? You can query some server load or something like that.

Manuel Lemos: Well, I think it may be using some external programs. Well, in Linux, I think there are some virtual files that you can query and obtain that CPU load.

Arturs Sosins: I think, yeah, that makes sense.

Manuel Lemos: Yeah, you don't need an external program because you can open those resources as files.

Arturs Sosins: And Pooya received a PhpStorm IDE for this package.

The second one I wanted to mention is PHP Webcam Fetch by Maik Greubel from Germany. What this package does, it fetches the images from remote webcam.

It is quite uncommon for PHP but it also makes sense that it's a remote webcam willing to fetch from other server, probably. Here's an example how you can use it. Probably, basically, it's just a specific webcam that has an image, and which is queried and delivered to the website, to the server. But still, it seems kind of interesting.

Mike got one downloadable e-book of choice by O'Reilly.

After this component, I wanted to comment on is, first one, is Punic by Michele Locati from Italy, and what it does it localizes numbers and dates, basically provide localization using Unicode Common Locale Data Repository.

It is a repository of the different values, formats for different locations, and it uses it to localize the numbers and dates. You can also see this going... covers all integrations policy or something like that. And that was the component by Michele Locati and he got one downloadable copy of PhpED Professional for it.

The next one I wanted to comment is the PHP Backup Files to FTP by Everton da Rosa from Brazil. Basically, this package, what it does is sends a zip file to FTP server to its backup, and it also... the upload was successful, and then comparison... that way.

Everton got one copy of VS.PHP. Basically, PHP Visual Studio.

And the last one I wanted to mention is PHP Ping Traceroute and DNS by Schroetter Christian from France. Basically, this package can send ping request to determine if the server is... and perform a traceroute of ICMP request messages, and so done in PHP. It also can get the location of addresses using the GeoIP extension. So yeah, quite possible to determine the network...

Okay, I think that's it from my part.

Manuel Lemos: Well, for my part, I also wanted to mention several packages. Let me share the screen here. The first one I'd like to mention, this PHP Word Frequency Analysis by Alejandro Mitrou from Argentina.

This package is very interesting. There are several other packages to extract frequent terms from packages, but this one is interesting because it could extract frequent terms, not individual words, but could be multiple words. It is interesting although there are similar packages but with other limitations.

For now, Alejandro did not yet picked his prize but there is a delay there for many winners. The previous winners, there often positions are still picking the prizes, so I hope they can be patient, but their turn will come.

Another package though to comment is an unusual one called PHP Historic Timeline Generator. It can render images with a timeline as it started... This is better shown with screenshots, as you may see here. It's quite neat. You have a timeline of different dates, and then it renders labels on diagonal. It's very interesting, You can build a nice timeline if you want to generate timelines for showing in articles or things like that.

This one was developed by Ihor Khomyn from Ukraine. Congratulations for his contribution.

The next package I want to comment is also an unusual one. It's a PHP WOL Wake On LAN. Wake On LAN is signal packet. I think it's a packet that you can send to your network to wake up computers that were sort of sleeping. This is interesting because...

Arturs Sosins: Not sleeping, actually. The computer can be completely turned off, but the...

Manuel Lemos: Yes, yes. Right. It can use the network to send simple commands to turn on and off the computer. This one can be... It uses just PHP to send those package. This is interesting. A package from Radovan Janjic from Serbia.

Now, another interesting package that I wanted to comment. It's a package called PHP Boolean Search String. It can convert Boolean text expressions, combine them to form a search expression with the syntax of Google. This one is from Hemant Kumar Tiwari from India. This is another unusual package that we got here and for that it was nominated.

Another interesting package, this is called PHP Service Locator Generator. It generates classes that are used to locate service classes based on configuration files. This is basically implementation of the service locator design pattern for those that are fans of design patterns. They will certainly appreciate this package. It's not a small package. It has 178 files, although half of them are documentation, but it's reasonably a... package.

And it's from NVB from Germany. I'm sure this is not exactly his real name but that's the way he's identifying himself in the site.

Finally, I would like to comment a package named PHP Weighted Voronoi Diagram. This is a variant of the Voronoi Diagram. Once again, it was contributed by Chi Hoang, now from France. He has been contributing many packages for geographic purposes. So, this one, I think it is for that same purpose.

PHP Innovation Award Rankings of 2014 (19:11)

Manuel Lemos: Basically, those are the nominees. Now, let's talk about the rankings of the Innovation Award of 2014.

By author, Chi Hoang is leading. He's in pretty good shape to win the Innovation Award of the year because he has 8 packages and 42 points, and he still continues to send innovative packages every month.

Second place is Orazio Principe from Italy with 3 packages and 24 points, Pooya Sabramooz from Iran with 2 packages and 22 points, Patrick JL Laso from Spain with 2 packages and 20 points, Jacob Fogg from United States with 2 packages and 19 points, wapmorgan from Russia 2 packages and 16 points, Andoitz Jordan Marmolejo with 2 packages and 16 points, Everton da Rosa with 2 packages and 14 points, Er. Rochak Chauhan 2 packages and 14 points, and Abius X, finally in 10th place, from Iran with 1 package and 12 points.

This is leading to a very interesting ranking by country because the lead country which is in pretty good shape to win the Innovation Award because there is only one remaining month to be accounted, and Italy is leading with 9 packages and 66 points.

But Iran comes right after Italy with 7 packages and 65 points. I think looking at the nominees of December, which is the last month to be accounted, there is only one nominee from Italy, none from Iran. So practically, Italy, have already won by country.

Although the results will only be officially announced next month, I think by country's pretty much decided that Italy will win. Still, Iran has made a great effort. Many authors participated to achieve this result, and they almost got ahead, but did not make it. Still, it's great because they sent many great innovative packages. Then, in third place...

Arturs Sosins: One thing that I, you can finish with the third place, it's about what I wanted to say.

Manuel Lemos: Yeah. Sorry?

Arturs Sosins: Basically, you see that France is in third place, but if you look in the author table, then Chi Hoang basically rocks the top for this year. It was not enough to bring France to first place, so it's really a team competition. You need more members.

Manuel Lemos: Exactly. Precisely. That's a very good point that you bring in because the idea is the authors collaborate and encourage each other, so the more authors participate, the greater are the chances to win the Innovation Award.

I think Chi Hoang is in pretty good shape to win by author individually, but he sent 8 of the 11 packages that France got to be in this position. So as you said, it was not enough. Well, maybe next year, French developers, as well as other countries, can have get also good position.

Then, Spain comes at 4th with 47 points. Brazil with 8 packages is 42 points; United States 6 and 42 points, India with 5 packages and 31 points, Russian Federation with 4 packages and 30 points, Romania 2 packages and 17 points, Germany, finally, 4 packages and 17 points.

Well, this has been a very exciting competition this year. I hope next year, we will get even more interesting packages. Maybe authors can communicate, organize themselves and give them ideas to each other, also take advantage of the package recommendation system because sometimes there are requests for packages that do not exist. They can take ideas for innovative packages.

From what I could gather, well, in December, it was sort of a weak month, because it's practical holidays, and there are not so many packages being submitted. But, right now, in January, there is a boost of new packages. Many of them are innovative, and it seems that 2015 will be very promising. Well, let's wait and see.