The largest PHP event in Japan, PHP Conference Japan 2019, was held on December 1st, 2019. PHP Conference Japan is actually the world’s first PHP Conference.
It’s a very popular event, and most years see about 1,500 PHPers and those interested in learning PHP in attendance. The majority of attendees are Japanese, but some do come from abroad every year, and this time we had many attendees from Southeast Asia. There were about 40 technical speeches at the conference, and booths from about 50 sponsoring companies. Not only were the speeches well attended, but the sponsor booths were also quite popular. Many PHP Conference Japan presenters are excellent speakers, and can explain cutting edge techniques in easy-to-understand, fun ways, so those who understand Japanese are sure to find the talks fascinating.
Also, the staff at the booths tend to be quite open, so one of the real standouts of this conference is that even if you attend on your own, you can count on getting direct, warm responses from booth staff. My own first experience was as a solo attendee, but I soon met new friends, and I really remember enjoying it. This is a great example of Japan’s particular PHPer philosophy of inclusiveness, namely “Accept all comers, because PHP fans are all friends!” Also, a lot of people on site can speak at least a little English.
Those wanting to attend should follow the site below, which offers updates and reports.
https://phpcon.connpass.com/
As the head of the Engineer Certification Corporation for PHP, which manages a qualifying examination for PHP, I presented at a lunch session titled “Mr. Tokumaru Explains Example Questions from the Tokumaru Exam, PHP7 Beginner’s Textbook Presentation Campaign, and Market Trends.” I presented along with Japan’s leading web security expert, Hiroshi Tokumaru. Here’s a simple explanation of what I discussed at the day’s session.
As you can see below, roughly 78.9% of the world’s web servers currently run PHP, and it is far and away the most popular server side language worldwide.
Server-side Programming Languages
Most popular server-side programming languages
| © W3Techs.com | usage | change since 1 December 2019 |
|---|---|---|
| 1. PHP | 78.9% | |
| 2. ASP.NET | 10.6% | -0.1% |
| 3. Java | 3.7% | -0.1% |
| 4. Ruby | 3.0% | +0.1% |
| 5. Static files | 1.8% | -0.1% |
Usage percentage of sites
Source: W3Techs
In Japan’s job market, it is the third most common language listed in recruitment ads, with 36,700 openings. Clearly, PHP work holds a large share of the market.
| Language | May 2019 | March 2018 | Change Rate | Change in Number | Change in Rank |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Java | 46,750 | 48,220 | 97% | -1,470 | – |
| C | 39,543 | 26,675 | 148% | 12,868 | ↑ |
| PHP | 36,700 | 28,685 | 128% | 8,015 | ↓ |
| C# | 27,760 | 23,333 | 119% | 4,427 | ↑ |
| C++ | 26,172 | 22,657 | 116% | 3,515 | ↓ |
| Python | 22,930 | 9,082 | 252% | 13,848 | ↑ |
| Ruby | 20,228 | 12,676 | 160% | 7,552 | ↑ |
| Javascript | 17,941 | 18,561 | 97% | -620 | ↓ |
| Objective-C | 14,193 | 5,834 | 243% | 8,359 | – |
Along with PHP being widely adopted in Japan, it’s also becoming an easy target for cyber-attacks. This means it’s necessary to be more conscious of web security, and so I asked Hiroshi Tokumaru to create questions for our Web Security Basics Exam. We’ll be offering this Web Security Basics Exam from spring of 2020, in 250 testing locations all over Japan, throughout the year.
Note: Please check the link below for information about our Web Security Basics Exam (Japanese only):
https://www.phpexam.jp/tokumarubasic/
Since the Engineer Certification Corporation for PHP I direct also sponsored the conference, we had a booth at the conference, too.
At the booth, we hosted raffles for PHP mugs and stuffed animals, and it was so popular we had over 300 visitors dropped by.
PHP Conference Japan is a fun place to learn about PHP, and since it’s all aimed at helping you network with your peers, it’s also an excellent business opportunity open to a wide range of attendees every year, from amateurs to veterans.
PHP Conference Japan 2020 is scheduled for October 11, 2020. Details will be listed on the site below as they’re decided. I strongly recommend anyone interested to attend.
https://phpcon.php.gr.jp/2020/
