| From: Christopher Schultz [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] | Sent: Thursday, 30 November, 2006 09:25 | | The bottom line for the whole PHP versus Java thing for me is perceived | complexity of a project. If I want it done super fast and super simple, | I'll go for PHP. If I want to actually architect something, then I'll | turn to Java.
I think Chris has put his finger on the real issue here. I've been on both PHP and JSP projects, and the PHP projects typically had a prototype up and running (at least demo-able) in days if not hours. This was because the bulk of the PHP developers were "web developers", who created their HTML first, then added code to it (often as much JavaScript as PHP). PHP development is very amenable to this style of development. In contrast, the JSP projects were typically stocked with Java developers, who sat down and analyzed the requirements and worked out a design before they wrote anything. They also tended to write taglibs and other supporting classes in Java rather than use JavaScript. Testing JSPs also seems to take longer, although a good IDE should make it fast (I've never used an IDE that had good JSP support). With PHP, you tend to have two windows open: editor and browser. Change the page in the editor, save the change, hit refresh on the browser: boom, there's your change. With JSPs, it was always: edit, save, deploy to Tomcat, go to test launcher page, then click on link/button to launch the modified page (refresh didn't always cause a recompile, don't know if that was a browser or Tomcat (or Apache->Tomcat) issue). Again, as Chris said, it's an issue of project complexity. I haven't met any slap-something-together-quick, shoot-from-the-hip Java developers, and precious few design-before-you-build PHP coders. I think PHP is superior in the fast-paced web site design market, where the ability to make radical changes in a site's layout or navigation is critical. JSPs seem more at home in the web application market, where stability and reliability are paramount. | My experience has been that as PHP projects grow, they | become very difficult to maintain. Not so (or, at least, not so much!) | with Java. I think this is more of a function of the development team's attitude. Like I said, PHP coders think nothing of throwing away large chunks of code, whereas JSP developers tend to think in terms of reuse. There's nothing inherent in PHP that makes it difficult to maintain, but (IME) they are written to be disposable. Many web sites want a new look and feel every six months to a year, so the site gets entirely rewritten. They also tend to be static, so once they're up and working they don't get touched. The information contained in this message is confidential proprietary property of FACTS/Nelnet Business Solutions. Any reproduction, forwarding, or copying without the express permission of FACTS/Nelnet Business Solutions is strictly prohibited. If you have received this communication in error, please notify us immediately by replying to this e-mail. --------------------------------------------------------------------- To start a new topic, e-mail: users@tomcat.apache.org To unsubscribe, e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] For additional commands, e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
