Symfony Station Communiqué — 08 September 2023. A look at Symfony, Drupal, PHP, Cybersecurity, and Fediverse news!
Tags: symfony, drupal, php, fediverse
Published: 2023-09-11 21:52:37

This communiqué [originally appeared on Symfony Station](https://www.symfonystation.com/Symfony-Station-Communique-08-September-2023). 

Welcome to this week's Symfony Station communiqué. It's your review of the essential news in the Symfony and PHP development communities focusing on protecting democracy. We also cover the cybersecurity world and the Fediverse.

This week, we also published [a workcation edition](https://www.symfonystation.com/Workcation-August-2023). It covered the Symfony-related items birthed while we were out of town.

There is plenty of good content in each category this week, so please take your time and enjoy the items most relevant and valuable to you. 

Or jump straight to your favorite section via our website. 

- [Symfony](https://www.symfonystation.com/Symfony-Station-Communique-08-September-2023#symfony)
- [PHP](https://www.symfonystation.com/Symfony-Station-Communique-08-September-2023#php)
- [Other](https://www.symfonystation.com/Symfony-Station-Communique-08-September-2023#other)
- [Cybersecurity](https://www.symfonystation.com/Symfony-Station-Communique-08-September-2023#cybersecurity)
- [More Programming](https://www.symfonystation.com/Symfony-Station-Communique-08-September-2023#more)
- [Fediverse](https://www.symfonystation.com/Symfony-Station-Communique-08-September-2023#fediverse)



**My opinions will be in bold. And will often involve profanity.**

---

![Symfony logo](https://www.symfonystation.com/sites/default/files/inline-images/Symfony-2.png)

## Symfony

As always, we will start with the official news from Symfony.

Highlight -> "This week, development activity was lighter than usual and focused on deprecating and tweaking features in the upcoming Symfony 6.4 version. Meanwhile, the SymfonyLive Berlin 2023 conference announced the last days of the reduced ticket price period."

[# A Week of Symfony #870 (28 August - 3 September 2023)](https://symfony.com/blog/a-week-of-symfony-870-28-august-3-september-2023)


They also have:

[Become our partner at SymfonyLive Berlin 2023](https://symfony.com/blog/become-our-partner-at-symfonylive-berlin-2023)

[SymfonyLive Berlin 2023 Starts in a Month](https://symfony.com/blog/symfonylive-berlin-2023-starts-in-a-month)

[SymfonyCon Brussels 2023: Call for IT student volunteers](https://symfony.com/blog/symfonycon-brussels-2023-call-for-it-student-volunteers) 

[Symfony 7.0 Type Declarations](https://symfony.com/blog/symfony-7-0-type-declarations) 

[API Platform Conference 2023 : the countdown has started!](https://symfony.com/blog/api-platform-conference-2023-the-countdown-has-started) 


---

## Featured Item

![Featured item graphic](https://symfonystation.com/sites/default/files/inline-images/Featured-Item_1_0.png)

Timo Tijhof expertly writes:

"PHP is **big**. The trolls can proclaim its all-but-certain “death” until the cows come home, but no amount of heckling changes that the Internet runs on PHP. The evidence is overwhelming. What follows is a loosely organized collection of precisely that evidence."

[An internet of PHP](https://timotijhof.net/posts/2023/an-internet-of-php/)


---

### This Week

Twillio starts a series:
[Add Realtime Push Capabilities in Symfony With Mercure](https://www.twilio.com/blog/add-realtime-push-capabilities-symfony-mercure)

Strange Buzz is:
[Introducing the microsymfony application template](https://www.strangebuzz.com/en/blog/introducing-the-microsymfony-application-template) 

Jakub Skowron shares:
[Elevate your code mastering by refactoring in Symfony with RectorPHP](https://medium.com/@skowron.jakub1/elevate-your-code-mastering-refactoring-in-symfony-with-rectorphp-a5baa7f0fbc)

[Discovering Symfony's Secret Weapon: the Ulitimate Guide to the Webhook Component](https://medium.com/@skowron.dev/discovering-symfonys-secret-weapon-the-ultimate-guide-to-the-webhook-component-bae1449f4504) 

A new book should be available soon:
[Symfony 6 a practical guide](https://leanpub.com/symfony-6-a-practical-guide)
**Please show your interest.**

Ruben Rubio shows us how to:
[Serve a file stream in Symfony](https://dev.to/rubenrubiob/serve-a-file-stream-in-symfony-3ei3) 

Oğuzhan Karacabay shares:
[Custom DQL usage with Symfony](https://medium.com/beyn-technology/custom-dql-usage-with-symfony-a62965154172) 


### eCommerce

Sylius releases:
[Month of Sylius August](https://sylius.com/blog/month-of-sylius-august/) 

### Platforms

Laravel News reports on:
[Symfony's DomCrawler with Laravel HTTP Tests](https://laravel-news.com/symfony-domcrawler-with-laravel-http-tests)


### CMSs

Jakob Rockowitz demonstrates:
[Building complex content models using the Schema.org Blueprints module’s configuration, mapping sets, and starter kits](https://www.jrockowitz.com/blog/schemadotorg-configuration)

Drupal Easy is:
[Introducing the Markdown Easy Drupal Module](https://www.drupaleasy.com/blogs/ultimike/2023/09/introducing-markdown-easy-drupal-module)

Golems shares:
[The Impact of Machine Learning on Drupal Personalization](https://gole.ms/blog/impact-machine-learning-drupal-personalization)

Bounteous explores:
[The Evolution of Drupal: Discover the Features D7 Users Are Missing Out On](https://www.bounteous.com/insights/2023/09/07/evolution-drupal-discover-features-d7-users-are-missing-out)

Acquia explains:
[Why Drupal is the Preferred CMS for Government Websites](https://www.acquia.com/blog/drupal-for-government)


### Previous Weeks

ImageX examines:
[Content Editing on a Drupal Website in 2023: What's New and Hot](https://imagexmedia.com/blog/improve-content-editing-drupal-2023)


![PHP logo](https://symfonystation.com/sites/default/files/inline-images/php-logo_4.png)

## PHP

### This Week

The WordPress Dev Blog is:

[Exploring the future of web development with WebAssembly and PHP](https://developer.wordpress.org/news/2023/08/exploring-the-future-of-web-development-with-webassembly-and-php/)

Techiclues shows us how to:
[Convert YAML to an array in PHP](https://www.techieclues.com/blogs/convert-yaml-to-array-in-php) 

Alex shares:
[How PHP daemons can make your life easier](https://alexwebdevelop.activehosted.com/social/577bcc914f9e55d5e4e4f82f9f00e7d4.314)

Grzegorz Lasak explores:
[Templating API Calls and More: Exploring the Template Method Pattern in PHP](https://medium.com/@bluznierca1/templating-api-calls-and-more-exploring-the-template-method-pattern-in-php-18ec80306e7) 

[Constants vs. String Literals: Crafting Cleaner PHP Code](https://medium.com/@bluznierca1/constants-vs-string-literals-crafting-cleaner-php-code-63f4c4fee176) 

Amit Merchant demonstrates:
[All the ways to handle null values in PHP](https://www.amitmerchant.com/all-the-ways-to-handle-null-values-in-php/)

Dariusz Gafka examines:
[YOLO Message-Driven Architecture](https://blog.devgenius.io/yolo-message-driven-architecture-e97a26392709) 

Jeroen Deviaene asks:
[Why does a backslash prefix improve PHP function call performance](https://www.deviaene.eu/articles/2023/why-prefix-php-functions-calls-with-backslash/) 

Shafekul Abid shares:
[Unveiling Advanced PHP Techniques: From Design Patterns to Testing Part 1](https://medium.com/@abidshafee/unveiling-advanced-php-techniques-from-design-patterns-to-testing-7e5be3731400)

[Unveiling Advanced PHP Techniques: From Design Patterns to Testing Part 2](https://medium.com/@abidshafee/part-two-navigating-advanced-php-techniques-continued-81bd50db4fbb)

### Previous Weeks

Black Cat Dev looks at:
[Navigating Undefined Variable and Index Notices in PHP: Understanding and Resolving Common Warnings](https://towardsdev.com/navigating-undefined-variable-and-index-notices-in-php-understanding-and-resolving-common-warnings-53509995aabd)
![Code logo](https://symfonystation.com/sites/default/files/inline-images/code-logo_3.jpeg)

## Other

[Please visit our Support Ukraine page](https://www.symfonystation.com/Support-Ukraine) to learn how you can help kick Russia out of Ukraine (eventually).

### The cyber response to Russia’s War Crimes and other douchebaggery

The Kyiv Post reports:
[Ukraine is Now Using AI-Powered Drones With Some Amazing Capabilities](https://www.kyivpost.com/post/21247)

The Next Web reports:
[Ukraine’s fight against disinformation is creating a new startup sector](https://thenextweb.com/news/ukraine-anti-disinformation-industry-startups)

Euractiv reports:
[Slovak elections: How platforms counter political misinformation under DSA](https://www.euractiv.com/section/law-enforcement/news/slovak-elections-how-platforms-counter-political-misinformation-under-dsa/) 

The Register reports:
[Russian infosec boss gets nine years for $100M insider-trading caper using stolen data](https://www.theregister.com/2023/09/08/russian_insider_training_prison/)
**This is why you don't use Russian software, companies, or programmers.**

TechCrunch reports:
[EU confirms six (mostly US) tech giants are subject to Digital Markets Act](https://techcrunch.com/2023/09/06/dma-gatekeepers-named/)

### The Evil Empire Strikes Back

The Guardian reports:
[Twitter accused of helping Saudi Arabia commit human rights abuses](https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/sep/04/twitter-saudi-arabia-human-rights-abuses)

[Twitter ‘unfit’ for banking over alleged complicity in Saudi rights abuses](https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/sep/08/twitter-saudi-arabia-human-rights-abuses)

CNBC reports:
[ADL CEO says Elon Musk’s insinuation to sue over defamation is merely a ‘threat of a frivolous lawsuit’](https://www.cnbc.com/2023/09/06/adl-ceo-musks-insinuation-to-sue-over-defamation-is-merely-a-threat-of-a-frivolous-lawsuit.html) 
**Space Karen has added antisemitism to his bag of cuntitry.

Disconnect reports on:
[The media's failure on Elon Musk](https://www.disconnect.blog/p/the-medias-failure-on-elon-musk) 
**And by the way, Shitter's CuntEO did not found Tesla. He bought it from the two founders and proceeded to fuck it up.

**And he's decided to help Russia in their occupation of Ukraine.**
[Elon Musk shuts down Starlink in Crimea to stop Ukraine’s drone attack on Russian Navy](https://euromaidanpress.com/2023/09/07/elon-musk-shuts-down-starlink-in-crimea-to-stop-ukraines-drone-attack-on-russian-navy/)

The Hacker News reports:
[Chinese-Speaking Cybercriminals Launch Large-Scale iMessage Smishing Campaign in U.S.](https://thehackernews.com/2023/09/chinese-speaking-cybercriminals-launch.html)

And:
[Researchers Warn of Cyber Weapons Used by Lazarus Group's Andariel Cluster](https://thehackernews.com/2023/09/researchers-warn-of-cyber-weapons-used.html)

And:
[North Korean Hackers Exploit Zero-Day Bug to Target Cybersecurity Researchers](https://thehackernews.com/2023/09/north-korean-hackers-exploit-zero-day.html)

### Cybersecurity/Privacy

And:
[Outlook Hack: Microsoft Reveals How a Crash Dump Led to a Major Security Breach](https://thehackernews.com/2023/09/outlook-breach-microsoft-reveals-how.html)

Dark Reading reports:
[Realism Reigns on AI at Black Hat and DEF CON](https://www.darkreading.com/omdia/realism-reigns-on-ai-at-black-hat-and-def-con) 

### More Programming


The Register has:
[From browser brat to backend boss: Will WASM win the web wars?](https://www.theregister.com/2023/09/01/web_assembly_wasm_column/)

Kinsta shows us:
[Use Volumes to Manage Persistent Data With Docker Compose](https://kinsta.com/blog/docker-compose-volumes/) 

Jason Knight has:
[What I Mean By Using HTML And CSS Properly — Part 1 of 3](https://deathshadow.medium.com/what-i-mean-by-using-html-and-css-properly-part-1-of-3-44804722e33a)

[Using HTML And CSS Properly — Part 2 of 3 — Example Site Markup](https://deathshadow.medium.com/using-html-and-css-properly-part-2-of-3-example-site-markup-f1fb7b374bc2)

Kavii says:
[You Don't Need to "Learn" Svelte](https://kaviisuri.com/you-dont-need-to-learn-svelte)
**if you already know JavaScript.**

Percona has a:
[Quick Guide to SQL Joins](https://www.percona.com/blog/quick-guide-to-sql-joins/)
![Fediverse_logo.png](https://www.symfonystation.com/sites/default/files/inline-images/Fediverse_logo.png)
### Fediverse

The Fediverse Report publishes:
[Last Week in the Fediverse: Episode 33/](https://fediversereport.com/last-week-in-fediverse-episode-33/) 

Mashable asks and answers:
[What is the Fediverse?](https://mashable.com/article/what-is-the-fediverse) 

Codeberg shares Fediverse Developer Resources:
[A curated list of resources for ActivityPub developers who create software for the Fediverse.](https://codeberg.org/fediverse/delightful-activitypub-development/src/branch/main/README.md)

There's an:
[Unofficial kbin Guide](https://unofficial-kbin-guide.surge.sh/)

Erland explores:
[Group Convergence](https://blog.erlend.sh/group-convergence) 

Torque Mag examines:
[Mastodon and WordPress](https://torquemag.io/2023/09/mastodon-and-wordpress/) 

## CTAs (aka show us some free love)

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Do you own or work for an organization that would be interested in our promotion opportunities? Or supporting our journalistic efforts? If so, please get in touch with us. We’re in our infancy, so it’s extra economical. 😉

More importantly, if you are a Ukrainian company with coding-related products, we can offer free promotion on [our Support Ukraine page](https://www.symfonystation.com/Support-Ukraine). Or, if you know of one, get in touch.

You can find a vast array of curated evergreen content.

## Author

![Reuben Walker headshot](https://miro.medium.com/max/1200/1*B3RcgIbAiytfjynP-oiOMg.jpeg)

### Reuben Walker

Founder
Symfony Station