> -----Original Message----- > From: Manuel Lemos [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] > Sent: Thursday, August 03, 2006 1:43 PM > To: php-general@lists.php.net > Subject: Re: [PHP] Re: PHP Frameworks - Opinion > > Hello, > > on 08/03/2006 09:25 AM Paul Scott said the following: > > The main thing in Manual's post that got me writing this in > the first > > place was : > > > > "Imagine if there would be only one PDBC (JDBC for PHP). Instead of > > that we have a never ending choice of PHP database > abstraction layers > > that does not help newcoming developers that are lost and > don't know > > what to use." > > I admit I have not expressed myself clearly. What I meant is > not that people should be disallowed to implement alternative > APIs, but rather that they should not feel the need to do it. > > In the Java world, JDBC is the de facto standard because Java > developers do not feel the need to develop other database > APIs. That happens because JDBC is a standard API defined by > several players from the SQL database world that sit together > and defined a consensual API specification.
This is partially true because Java is owned and managed by SUN, and SUN is all about developing API's, both to ensure that it's own later work will work, and because it meant a better way for people to interface. And while you use JDBC as an example of something that won out, it isn't the only way to interface with Databases through Java, nor was it always accepted as the best way. In fact there is still a lot of discussion about other methods, and follow ons to JDBC. Also, JDBC doesn't eliminate the database specific variations entirely. You still have to deal with slight variances between specific databases, or incomplete JDBC implementations or JDBC implementations that provide additional functionality that isn't part of the spec. By the same token Pear_DB, and the follow ons were much like the early versino of JDBC. As is PDO in a lot of ways. The majority of the database specifics have been abstracted out and a general interface has emerged. Unlike in Java though, the PDO and Pear_(M)DB(2) families haven't settled yet(nor did JDBC overnight) but they are being developed by the community. And many people DO recognize the advantage of standards and basic API's and are working to develop exactly those kinds of things in their frameworks. Solar, as a simple example I have some experience with, is spending a lot of time thinking about how components fit togethor, how to allow for a common API while not requiring that you use Solar's classes or pieces to do things. Of course the web development world is a lot bigger than it was in the early days of JSP/J2EE. And PhP has a huge part of that so the community is larger and therefore the competing ideas is larger. But you could argue, how is PDO not a standard interface like JDBC? How was it not designed by the community and put out there for people to implement their own methods for it? > > In the PHP world there is no such organization nor the vision > of the benefits of cooperating to define such standards. I > already gave an example of the benefits of having such > standard API specifications in the other comment to Rob. > > -- > > Regards, > Manuel Lemos > > Metastorage - Data object relational mapping layer generator > http://www.metastorage.net/ > > PHP Classes - Free ready to use OOP components written in PHP > http://www.phpclasses.org/ > > -- > PHP General Mailing List (http://www.php.net/) To > unsubscribe, visit: http://www.php.net/unsub.php > > James Kilbride -- PHP General Mailing List (http://www.php.net/) To unsubscribe, visit: http://www.php.net/unsub.php
