Mission summary

Numiton is engaged in migrating all relevant open-source PHP projects to Java.

The state of open-source PHP

Due to the universal availability of PHP, there are many successful open-source projects built with it. From the end-user point of view, these projects offer a great experience. As detailed in this post, online application categories such as forums, blogging, content management systems and wiki are much better served by open-source PHP projects than by Java ones.

Take a look at the code though, and sometimes you might be unpleasantly surprised. Sub-optimal code quality, coupled with insufficient tools/IDE support, makes you wonder how difficult it is to maintain and develop such projects.

Why move them to Java?

There are many reasons why Java as a language and technology is a better choice.

• easier maintenance - Java is often criticized for being too verbose. This verbosity is great however when trying to understand and change the code.
• easier development - The strong and static typing features of the Java language provide more controlled mechanisms for extending an existing application.
• superior architectures - Java makes it possible to build architectures with strictly enforced boundaries. Technologies like OSGi are ideal for developing highly modular applications.
• superior tools - There is very good tool support for Java, including IDEs, third-party libraries, build tools, code checkers etc.

Who will do it?

The technology and expertise required to perform the migration process are provided by Numiton. Having the migrated application up and running is only the first step.

The input of the Java community is needed in the following ways:

• use the projects,
• propose improvements,
• participate in the development.