Alexanader Makarov is one of the core contributors of Yii, a very famous PHP framework. He is involved with PHP-fig, a group of PHP projects. He is also an excellent conference speaker.

He is a common participant of many open source projects. During the course of his career, he has worked with numerous design patterns and techniques using various programming languages.

He has labored hard to grow the Russian Yii community.  He possesses vast experience in web development and project management. He has expertise in PHP, Javascript, java, HTML, CSS.

Let’s start his interview without any further delay:

HostNoc: Please tell us about your career struggle? What were the leaps and bounds in your work life?

Alexanader Makarov: There was no “struggles” as such. I’ve learned computer science, got a master’s degree and did lots and lots of practice and reading for more than 10 years.

As for leaps and bounds… there were certain leaps such as joining OpenSource world or joining Stay team and almost no bounds… some bumps maybe.

HostNoc: what inspires you most in being the core contributor of Yii Framework? What are your major contributions in Yii?

Alexanader Makarov: Community inspires me the most and the fact that we help each other by creating the right tools for our jobs together. As for my contributions to Yii… well, the most prominent one so far is co-authoring Yii 2.0.

HostNoc: What do you think are the pros and cons of Yii framework. What are the factors that makes it better than other frameworks.

Alexanader Makarov: Yii is one of the first MVC-type frameworks out there so we have lots of experience and make very efficient code that’s simultaneously simple, flexible and performance-oriented.

We love a good balance in things, and Yii isn’t an exception. In my opinion, all the frameworks currently popular in the PHP world are fine ones with their pros and cons and Yii isn’t an exception. You have to try all and choose the one that best fits your needs.

Yii is best known for:

1. Database abstraction layer.
2. Performance.
3. Code generation.
4. Documentation.
5. Community.

HostNoc: Workstation plays a significant role in keeping one motivated. Please share your workstation picture for our readers.

Alexanader Makarov: 

HostNoc: Any piece of advice you would like to give to newbies pertaining to PHP development?

Alexanader Makarov: Learn object-oriented programming and design properly. Be diligent about naming things. Write code the way it could be read easily by a very tired developer.

HostNoc: Which books would you like to recommend for learning Yii?

Alexanader Makarov: Official guide is the best book but there’s also a cookbook I’ve put together:

HostNoc: In your career, you have switched between various frameworks. Please tell us your story about how you landed on a perfect framework.

Alexanader Makarov: I did not. I don’t think there will ever be a framework that’s just perfect.

Yii is a great balance. I’ve found out about it in 2008 after some time with CodeIgniter. The website was ugly but I decided to read some docs. They made perfect sense. I’ve tried it and it did what was in the docs unlike other frameworks back then, so I’ve decided to choose it as my primary PHP framework.

HostNoc: You have been working in the community for a long time, which personalities have been your inspiration?

Alexanader Makarov: Many people from Yii community and companies I’ve worked with. But if I have to call names, it must be the two original creators of Yii: Qiang Xue and Wei Zhou. They’re both very experienced developers and are very wise people. I’ve learned a lot from them.

HostNoc:  What are your hobbies and interests? How do you cheer yourself up after hectic coding hours.

Alexanader Makarov: Travel. Family. Coffee. Public speaking. Computer games. Reading. Movies. Music. Friends. Some sports.