READING LIST

Reading

Curated reading recommendations on e-commerce architecture, Adobe Commerce/Magento, PHP and software engineering. Not a full translation: a short summary in my own words, with a link to the original source.

wiki.php.net

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August 10, 2026

PHP 8.6: another round of language cleanup – vote on the deprecations umbrella RFC

The “Deprecations for PHP 8.6” umbrella RFC on wiki.php.net proposes flagging a handful of aging language features for deprecation warnings, such as passing objects to certain array/zlib functions, or using strcoll() and SORT_LOCALE_STRING. Each item is voted on separately by PHP core developers, with voting wrapping up around August 10, 2026. The goal is PHP’s usual gradual cleanup: warn developers well ahead of time before a feature is actually removed.

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Thoughtworks

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April 15, 2026

Thoughtworks’ new Technology Radar warns about AI-generated “cognitive debt”

Thoughtworks’ 34th Technology Radar warns that AI-generated code is creating “cognitive debt”: a widening gap between developers and the systems they build, as agentic tools accelerate code creation faster than human comprehension can keep up. The report also flags “semantic diffusion”, the inconsistent use of new AI-related terminology across the industry. Its recommended response is to double down on engineering fundamentals: zero-trust architecture, rigorous testing, and human oversight that keeps coding agents accountable rather than autonomous.

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martinfowler.com

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April 2, 2026

What a “harness” is, and why it decides how much you can trust an AI coding agent

Birgitta Böckeler argues that trusting an AI coding agent comes down to the harness around it, not the model itself: the guardrails that steer it beforehand and the checks that catch problems afterward. Her proposed fix is a layered control system, combining fast automated checks (linters, tests) with slower semantic AI review across the development lifecycle. The goal isn’t removing human oversight, but redirecting it to where it matters most: architectural trade-offs and behavioral requirements no sensor can fully validate on its own.

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Adobe Commerce (Experience League)

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March 9, 2026

Adobe Commerce: AI developer tooling for App Builder – converting existing PHP extensions

In March 2026, Adobe Commerce as a Cloud Service shipped AI-powered developer tooling for App Builder: it can scaffold new App Builder apps and convert existing, traditional PHP-based Commerce extensions into App Builder applications. The release came with two worked examples (converting a ratings extension and a shipping-method extension) so developers can see, step by step, how to modernize legacy customizations onto the cloud-native framework.

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