This was another one of those ‘small community feel’ events that one wants to be a part of. Less crowds, more focussed audience and a good chance of knowing people.

I am seeing this new face of Singapore- people love to organise such events and be a part of these events. And I also find that organizations and Univs are more than interested to sponsor space (and in this case drinks) for such events. So if you are a part of such a group and want to organise a physical meet, a major part of the cost is already covered. And then again- my offer to arrange something in my condo is still open.

This was an event organized by the PHP users group in Singapore by President and Founder of this community- Michael Cheng (I hear he himself is self-taught in coding! Is that right Michael?)

It was a small event- a gathering of about 30 odd people, and I was surprised many were not even coders- they were business people or marketing guys. So all eyes are still on technology I guess.

I went to the event looking for some young dynamic PHP guys who would think the world is their playground and they are the next Maradonas in the making. Though that did not happen, the overall feel of the meeting was good. Sanchit Bareja and Vishnu Prem- two young turks from NUS High School showcased the facebook app (Friendshipr)they built and answered questions on the making of the app. Developed by three guys actually- including Chong Shang Shan.

In their words:

Friendshipr calculates and displays your friendship ranking. You know the rank, you know who are your highest ranking friends, you know who has the highest ranking and you can search for the rankings of people you know

Michael Cheng fromPHP society covered the topic of building web services with PHP- waiting for the slides to be uploaded – will give the linkout laterz.

The last part was a hush hush presentation by Microsoft Singapore Developer Evangelist Chris Ismael, on WIndows 7. They requested not have a plug on it, but shared some links (Microsoft PDC and Mesh) where you could have some sneek previews of Windows 7, and Mesh- a new technology that makes different computing devices, well, interoperable to a great extent. Microsoft sure is getting a more open image nowadays- with their various initiatives. Allowing PHP guys and even some linux guys in the room and sharing a sneek preview with them was a testament- and inspite of all the snide remarks at the expense of Microsoft, Windows 7 seems to have some cool features.

Photos and more links laterz- if you were in the conference- do share with us your views in the comments section, and if you were not, and have something to say- please share that as well.