First of all, what is the AFUP? For those who don’t already know, it’s the French Association of PHP Users. The AFUP has been at the heart of the PHP community since 2000. AFUP aims to promote the exchange of expertise and the dissemination of knowledge within the PHP user community.
Rachel Foucard attended AFUP Day 2024, in Poitiers, France, 24 May 2024, for the TYPO3 Association, as a part of the Meet TYPO3 initiative. Rachel is a member of the TYPO3 Association Board. See upcoming Meet TYPO3 events.
PHP Events Across France
The AFUP Forum is an annual event, and this year it takes place on 10–11 October at Disneyland Paris. AFUP day is a series of conferences held every year on the same day in different French cities. This formula brings together speakers and PHP users every spring. This year, 530 PHP enthusiasts were able to take part, and the four event sites were all fully booked.
So this was my first AFUP day, and I was really enthusiastic about the concept and the quality of the event. All the conferences I attended were really interesting, and yet they were all very different from one another, whether the subject (technical or not at all), the level of expertise (beginner or advanced), or even the speaker (young developer or senior). For example,
- James Hemery showed us that it’s possible to develop a desktop application (yes!) in PHP
- Arnaud Langlade gave us a very educational explanation of hexagonal architecture and CQRS
- Julien Deroses talked to us about communication techniques and magic (and even performed some bluffing magic tricks!)
- Marion Hurteau introduced us to the charms of character strings.
Speaking of the last talk, I have to admit I wasn’t sure I’d be interested in such a subject, but when in doubt I said to myself, “why not!” Well, I loved it, and I’m not just saying that because the speaker was a woman, it was funny, subtle and fascinating.