Hi Manuel,
I have never used this but I have looked at it. It is an open source language
for doing web stuff. It is much like Active Server Pages (ASP). I have heard
good reviews and have definitly toyed with the idea of learning it. I have even
spent over an hour thumbing through a book in the book store. Scott
Salisbury is also thinking about switching to it. Most of the reviews say that it
is easier and more flexible than ASP. Glenn Sippola has also done some stuff
in PHP and he was thinking of expanding his use of it last we talked.
I do not think you can go wrong if you decide to learn it. PHP is one way to
get around using Tango. I have talked to Scott about this and we both are a
little unsure about Tango. The future of the product is very up in the air.
Pervasive is not supporting it and they are trying to sell it. PHP is free, not
influenced by Microsoft, has been around awhile (version 4 is out), is written
and added to by developers using the product daily (same as Linux), works
with any browsers and any database the supports ODBC.
I am sure you have also noticed the many references to MySQL which is a
free database. Scott and I have discussed this and have to come to these
conclusions:
1. There are a number of free products available which are very good. Here
is a short list: Linux, Apache, MySQL, most all browsers, PHP, Pegasus
Email. If you were programming using these products you could sell to
customers either A.) cheaper or B.) At a higher price for your services
because they do not have to purchase the underlying software. These free
products can cover all the basis of a system from Operating System to user
interface.
2. The open source stuff is very robust. While it may not have all the bells
and whistles that some of the commercial products have, it is becomming
more and more prevelant in businesses of all sizes. Most of this open source
stuff has several versions under their belt.
3. Eventually everything will probably use a "browser" interface and be
accessible over the internet.
4. Using these open source and free products is a very viable alternative to
using the commercial products.
5. There is a large learning curve if you take on all of them.
Scott is pushing to go this way. I am still happy just programming in R:Base
and most of my clients have shown little desire to have others access their
database on the web. I fear I will get left behind if I do not start doing some
web type programming so I may change my tune soon. I have not pushed it
yet because I am not sure about Tango or if I should spend my time learning
other languages like PHP, Java or whatever. Hard to say which way to go. I
have a lot of faith in RBTI with the exception of Tango. It works good for
now but if nobody is improving it, then (like me) Tango to will get left
behind.
If you want to visit their web page it is at http://php.net Notice the .net,
.com is some other company.
Best regards,
Mike Young
On Sat, 26 May 2001 22:09:48 -0700, Manuel de Aguiar wrote:
>What is PHP?
>Manuel
>
>DanielW wrote:
>
>> Jenna,
>>
>> I am most definitely not a programmer by profession. With that caveat in
>> place, I have to say that PHP is decidedly easier than Perl. To me, it's
>> analogous to working in a "4GL" vs a lower level language. Lower
learning
>> curve, less coding. Of course, I don't think it's as functional as the R>
>> language but dems da breaks.
>>
>> The folks here have told me that PHP can indeed be hooked in to RBase.
I do
>> know that PHP has several ODBC commands (which I haven't had a
chance to use
>> yet) which will let you connect to any ODBC compliant database.
>>
>> Dan
>
