# PHP Throwdown (and Zend Con)


By Ben Ramsey

Published on October 30, 2006


I'm at the [Zend/PHP Conference and Expo](http://web.archive.org/web/20060904043247/http://www.zendcon.com/) right now sitting in [Robert Richards's](http://www.cdatazone.org/) Advanced XML and Web Services tutorial. I'll be attending [Marcus's](http://marcus-boerger.de/) and [Sara's](http://blog.golemon.com/) Extending PHP tutorial later today. Had a great day yesterday, in which [Andrei](http://zmievski.org/) drove us to wine tastings at two different wineries: [Ridge](http://www.ridgewine.com/) and [Picchetti](http://www.picchetti.com/).

I wanted to take a moment to mention a 24-hour coding marathon announced by [Elizabeth Naramore](http://naramore.net/blog/): [PHP Throwdown](http://www.phpthrowdown.com/). The competition sounds exciting, and I'm hoping to get a group together from [Atlanta PHP](http://atlantaphp.org/) to participate. It's still in the planning stages, so you need to keep your eyes on it for announcements and more information. For now, here are the details:

> **What:** 24-hour coding competition to see who can code the best PHP app \
> **When:** January 27, 2007 \
> **Who:** You! You may enter individually or as a team, so if you think you've got what it takes then [read more](http://www.phpthrowdown.com/).