[techtalk] Web programming and nomic

[Sharon Souter]

Hi,

Just to add a bit to Jillian's fine response. PHP is great at authentication
too. There isn't much that it can't do compared to perl. Speaking from
personal experience and coming from a background of C++, a dabble of Java
and spending way too much tyme learning perl...PHP4Zend is like a breath of
fresh air for me. I found it much easier to learn and work with. Not that
the previous experience didn't help though.

The syntax is so much cleaner and it just seems faster to me when doing web
database work. The code itself is parsed on the server, but you can write it
right within your html pages (which is just way too kewl to me ;).
Actually, I learned more in one week with PHP than I did fighting for months
with perl and the DBI. I have Julie Meloni to thank for that though. I
picked up a copy of PHP Essentials, read it and reread it while doing all
the examples. It is an excellent book, and I highly recommend it! It is a
down to earth and truly functional, get the job done type of read. I am
hooked! Not only that...Julie maintains the book's web site that provides an
additional wealth of knowledge and code samples. She actually even took the
tyme out to post up to the minute instructions for installing version 4.0.0
when it came out 2 weeks ago. I have never experienced this before, and I
must say I was way impressed! (and no...she is not paying me to say this.
LOL!!!)

Not only is this an open source, cross-platform language, but it can
interface to just about any database. In my research, I understand the
newest version of MySQL does in fact support transactions and subselects are
on the list to be incorporated. I however, have not had a use for those so
far.

Seriously, if you are doing any kind of web database, you can't go wrong
with the powerful and flexible combination of PHP, MySQL & of
course...Apache ;)  Not only is this a cross-platform language, but it can
interface to just about any database.

Good Luck,
Sharon

----- Original Message -----
From: Jillian-Beth Stamos-Kaschke <jbsk at metis.de>
To: <techtalk at linuxchix.org>
Sent: Monday, June 05, 2000 8:27 AM
Subject: Re: [techtalk] Web programming and nomic


> Hi Britta,
>
> Having just completed a project at work which more or less does
> just what you want (minus the login bit), I feel competent enough to
> answer a couple of your questions.
>
> > I know about the following possibilities:
> >
> > - CGIs in perl / python. Stateless, so not so great with logging in, but
> > probably quite easy to change.
> >
> > - PHP. Is that different from CGIs?
>
> weeell: php was designed especially for use on web pages. You can however
> use PHP either as an Apache module (no command-line use of your PHP
> scripts, the module resides inside the server) or as a CGI module,
> which allows you to write shellscripts in PHP.
>
>  I'm not sure if there's more than one way to do PHP things, so if you're
> used to the extreme flexibility Perl gives you, you might find PHP takes
> some getting used to. Caveat: I'm neither a Perlmeistress nor a PHP
> expert, I just muddle through. You might want to take a look at the
> PHP website (http://www.php.net) or Kristian Koehntopp's PHP FAQ
> (http://www.koehntopp.de/php).
>
> > I'd be happy for any other suggestions and tips. And what database
> > should I use? mySQL, mSQL or PostgreSQL? Are there any others?
>
> Ah! The bit I know slightly more about:
>
> MySQL is pretty widely-used (and was the database used in the project).
> Its pros are: stability and performance, and as long as you don't have
> to do things such as porting other databases to MySQL, simplicity.
> The cons are: no transaction support (important if you have several
> people updating the database at once), no subselects (nasty if you're
> used to using them) and no triggers (ditto, also potentially hairy if
> you're porting a database to MySQL). PHP includes special MySQL
> connectivity features.
>
> MSQL is more or less what MySQL evolved from, if I remember correctly,
> and has a similar lack of features.
>
> PostgreSQL evolved from a database named Ingres (hence the name) and
> seems to support everything MySQL and mSQL lack. I'll certainly be
> checking it out somewhen during the near future, so I could keep you
> posted if you want. It is also free in the "free speech" sense :)
>
> Oracle also has a Linux version out which can be downloaded from
> the Oracle website and is ridiculously large, so an extremely
> fast connection would come in handy there. I think you can also write
> and ask them for a CD-ROM, which probably works out cheaper if
> you're planning to download the software from home. Caveat Nr. 2:
> Although I personally love working with Oracle (*ducks*), it can
> seem very daunting at first, especially without a book. If all you
> want is a database with names, addresses etc., then I'd suggest
> MySQL (and the O'Reilly book by Yarger, Reese and King). If you
> want more features but don't want Oracle overkill, then try PostgreSQL.
>
> All this is based on my experience and is accordingly incomplete.
>
> > Thanx for any help - I'm clueless at this!
>
> Hope this helps,
>
> Jillian.
>
>
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