The Programmer's Fulcrum: 11 October, 2025
Here we feature the latest Symfony Station Communiqué and Battalion "Destroying Autocracy" Post along with their featured articles.
Symfony Station Communiqué - Stardate: ✦ 10 October 2025 ✦
Get the latest from the Symfony Universe and PHP development communities.
Featured Item
Roberto Butti writes:
In this article, we’ll see how to centralize all code quality commands in one place, ensuring consistency and simplicity. We’ll cover two popular options:
- Composer scripts: built-in, simple, zero extra dependencies.
- Makefile: more flexible and powerful for advanced automation.
Centralizing code quality commands in PHP projects: composer scripts vs Makefile
Destroying Autocracy – October 09, 2025
Welcome to this week's "Destroying Autocracy". It’s your source for curated news affecting democracy in the cyber arena with a focus on protecting it.
Featured Item(s)
Open Media Network writes:
A central thesis of Tolkien’s books is that evil provides the means of its own defeat. Sauron forged the One Ring that destroyed him. Shelob impaled herself on Sam’s blade. Smaug exposed his belly to Bilbo and revealed the weak point that brought him down. Tolkien’s world is full of this pattern: the seed of destruction lies buried inside the will to dominate. Power over others always carries its own undoing.
But there’s a second truth, less often spoken. Good must still act. The Ring did not cast itself into the fires of Mount Doom, it had to be carried, inch by inch, through the mud and terror, by two small Hobbits who refused to give up. Shelob could only fall because Sam held his arm firm when it would have been easier to drop the blade. Smaug was slain not by fate, but by the hand that fired the black arrow.
Even when evil weakens itself, the act of courage still has to be taken. The small people still have to step up. And there’s a third lesson here, one that feels painfully relevant to our time: good only loses when it surrenders to hopelessness. Denethor’s despair nearly doomed Minas Tirith.
Frodo would have fallen without Sam’s stubborn love. Bilbo’s small act of faith. In Tolkien’s world, hope is not naïve optimism, it’s an act of defiance.
Join us and become a hobbit in the Open Media Network.
Speaking of OMN, we have an announcement this week:
Announcing The Programmer’s Fulcrum, our retirement project
