The PHPBuilder staff was saddened to learn that the founder of our site, Tim Perdue, passed away on September 16 , 2011, after a battle with cancer. At only 37 years of age, Tim’s passing came much too soon, but his contributions to the PHP and open source communities assure him a lasting legacy.
Tim founded PHPBuilder.com in January 1999 at the tender age of 24, serving as the site’s lead developer and editorial voice until March 2001. He saw the potential in PHP long before it evolved into the ubiquitous language that today powers sites such as Facebook and Wikipedia. In his relatively brief stint at the helm, Tim helped grow PHPBuilder to the number-one PHP resource for Web developers.
But PHPBuilder marked only the beginning of a career in which Tim would go on to serve as one of the original developers of SourceForge, the open source project repository, and then launch the software company GForge, LLC. To learn more about Tim’s career and life, read the story of his remarkable career in his own words, as well as these fitting tributes from his colleagues and family:
- * On Losing A Pioneer
- * Early SourceForge Developer Tim Perdue Passes Away
- * Service Details and Obituary
Among all the Tim Perdue writings on PHPBuilder, this quote from one of his earliest articles, Getting Started with PHP, may best reflect his passion for programming and his altruistic spirit:
“When I was starting with PHP in December of ’98, I spent nearly 25 hours just trying to get PHP to compile on my LinuxPPC box. When that nightmare was over, I decided I better try to help others who were also struggling to learn this kewl and powerful open source tool.”
If you are one of those programmers who at some point was struggling with PHP and found an answer here on the pages of PHPBuilder, please help us honor Tim Perdue’s legacy by sharing your experiences, memories and/or condolences in the comments below. It will be our tribute to the man whose vision and hard work made this site and the community that has grown around it possible.
Goodbye Tim, and thank you.
Sincerely,
The PHPBuilder Staff
Timothy Dean Perdue
