Programming languages are famous for the rigidity of their syntax and the consistency of their interpretation. Often this is frustrating to the new developer who is unfamiliar with the idioms and quirks of a language, or in complicated environments like the PHP internals that effectively alter the dialect of their parent language simply by the mass of their infrastructure. By using simple, well tested templates such as the ones found in this appendix, you can focus on becoming more familiar with the truly interesting parts of the API and avoid that unwelcome initial frustration.
In the final appendix of this title, you'll look at how to move beyond the limits of this book by incorporating the work of open source developers and getting answers to those questions that just couldn't fit within these few hundred pages.
The PHP Life Cycle
Variables from the Inside Out
Memory Management
Setting Up a Build Environment
Your First Extension
Returning Values
Accepting Parameters
Working with Arrays and HashTables
The Resource Data Type
PHP4 Objects
PHP5 Objects
Startup, Shutdown, and a Few Points in Between
INI Settings
Accessing Streams
Implementing Streams
Diverting the Stream
Configuration and Linking
Extension Generators
Setting Up a Host Environment
Advanced Embedding
Appendix A. A Zend API Reference
Appendix B. PHPAPI
Appendix C. Extending and Embedding Cookbook
Appendix D. Additional Resources