what is Future PHP or .NET

[netman4ttm]

Got the link

http://www.eclipse.org/

[davebarnes]

Like all religious arguments, we will end this one with no conclusion.

Think back to the days of:
Ethernet vs Token Ring
MVS vs VMS
TCP/IP vs ISO OSI
Fortran vs Algol
and now,
SAN vs NAS
iSCSI vs Fibre Channel

Only when the dust settles (and it will take years) will the answer be clear.

In the meantime, I refer you to: http://books.slashdot.org/article.pl...id=169&tid=185

[mushroom]

Originally Posted by netman4ttm

Got the link

http://www.eclipse.org/

Thanks (I learned something today)

[USALUG]

I'll just repost an article I wrote awhile back.

PHP and today's generation of web technologies.

What's next in the field of web design? It's already here. Today's webmasters are deluged with available technologies to incorporate into their designs. The ability to learn everything is fast becoming an impossiblity. So your choice in design technologies becomes increasingly important if you don't want to be the last man standing and left behind when everyone else has moved on. But before we get to that, lets do a quick review of the previous generation of web design.

The first generation of design would have to be called the STATIC generation. In the static generation of web design, pages were mostly html pages that relied soley on static text and images to relay they information over the internet. The first generation of web pages lacked x and y coordinate positioning, and relied on hand coded tables for somewhat accurate placement of images and text. Simple, and straight to the point, webdesign was more like writing a book and publishing it online. Although there are still a few static sites out there, the more proffesional sites have of course kept up with technology, which brings us to this generation of webdesign.

The second generation of web design (the one we are in now), would be considered the ACTIVE generation. For quite awhile now the internet has been drifting towards interactive web designs which allow users a more personal and dynamic experience when visiting websites. No longer is a great website simply a bunch of static text and images. A great website is now one which allows, indeed, encourages user interaction. From simple guestbooks to advanced user forums and image galleries, user s are expecting to have more interactions when visiting websites. The jobs of the webmasters everywhere have just gotten more difficult. No longer does knowing HTML inside out make you a webmaster, although that does help a great deal!! Now, knowing how to use interactive technologies isn't just helpful, it's almost a requirement. Here are a few of the interactive technologies available for the webmasters of today.

Technologies on the client side :

1.Active X Controls.
Developed by Microsoft these are only fully functional on the Internet Explorer web browser . This eliminates them from being cross platform, and thus eliminates them from being a webmasters number one technology choice for the future. Disabling Active X Controls on the IE web browser is something many people do for security, as the platform has been used by many for unethical and harmful things.

2.Java Applets
Java Applets are programs that are written in the Java Language. They are self contained and are supported on cross platform web browsers. While not all browsers work with Java Applets, many do. These can be included in web pages in almost the same way images can.

3.Dhtml and Client-Side Scripting
This catagorey covers an array of useful languages. DHTML, javascript, and vbscript. They all have in common the fact that all the code is transmitted with the original webpage and the web browser translates the code and creates pages that are much more dynamic than static html pages. Vbscript is only supported by Internet Explorer. That again makes for a bad choice for the web designer wanting to create cross platform web pages. With Linux and other operating systems gaining in popularity, it makes little sense to lock yourself into one platform.

Of all the client side options available javascript has proved to be the most popular and most widely used. So once your an expert with HTML, I recommend javascript for your next learning experience. Unless of course you prefer to just jump to the next level and skip the client side options altogether. That wouldn't neccesarily be an entirely bad idea in my opinion either.


Technologies on the server side:

1.CGI
This stands for Common Gateway Interface. It wasn't all that long ago that the only dynamic solution for webmasters was CGI. Almost every webserver in use today supports CGI in one form or another. The most widely used CGI language is Perl. Python, C, and C++ can also be used as CGI programming languages, but are not nearly as popular as Perl. The biggest disadvantage to CGI for the server side is in it's lack of scalability. Although mod_perl for Apache and Fast CGI attempt to help improve performance in this department, CGI is probably not the future of web design because of this very problem.

2.ASP
Another of Microsoft's attempt's to "improve" things. ASP is a proprietary scripting language. Performance is best on Microsoft's own servers of course, and the lack of widespread COM support has reduced the number of webmasters willing to bet the farm on another one of Microsoft's silver bullets.

3.JavaServer Pages and Java Servlets
Server side javascript is Netscapes answer to Microsoft's ASP technology. Since this technology is supported almost exclusively on the Netscape Enterprise Sever, the likelyhood that this will ever become a serious contender in the battle for the webmaster's attention is highly unlikely.

4.PHP
Perhaps the biggest diamond in the rough is PHP. Developed in 1994, PHP works very similar to the way that ASP works. However, quite unlike ASP, PHP is totally platform independent and there are versions for most operating systems and servers. The most helpful feature in gaining widespread acceptance is the fact that it's free and Open Source. PHP is definitely my choice for the future of web design for the forseeable future.

The benefits of using PHP server side proccessing include the following.

1.Reduces network traffic.
2.Avoids cross platform issues with operating systems and web browsers.
3.Can sent data to the client that isn't on the client computer.
4.Quicker loading time. After the server interprets all the php code, the resulting page is transmitted as HTML.
5.Security is increased, since things can be coded into PHP that will never be viewed from the browser.

While Flash, Active X, and other proprietary elements will continue to creep in and entice webmasters, in the end, compatibility issues and price of development will dictate what eventually win out in the next generation of web design. However, for the forseeable future PHP, HTML, and databases are going to be in the future of interactive web design, and that's where I'm placing my bets. Open Source continues to play an important role in driving web technologies. Even though Microsoft would like to be the only player on the field, Open Source, with it's flexibility will almost certainly be the winner in the end. Betting the farm on LAMP (Linux, Apache, MySql, PHP) seems much wiser to me than the alternative (Microsoft, IIS, Asp) ... not to mention it's a much less expensive route to follow.

Original Article Posted :http://usalug.org/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=534
Written by Crouse ... UsaLug site administrator.

Useful References
http://www.usalug.org
http://www.php.net
http://www.php.net/tut.php
http://www.php.net/docs.php
http://www.zend.com
http://www.apache.org
http://www.linux.org
http://mysql.com
http://www.hotscripts.com

[netman4ttm]

I got to ask this question!

Picking other people's brain's is much more fun then having yours picked.
When I was just starting out, PERL was the only web programming language. LAMP was Linux, Apache, MySQL and PERL.
Now python and PHP seem to have won the Linux side of the "P" in LAMP.
Has PERL just dropped off the face of the Earth?
I ask because even Microsoft had PERL included in the resource kit.

[USALUG]

http://www.onlamp.com/pub/a/onlamp/2001/01/25/lamp.html

You can still use Python or Perl :) Perl is still a mainstay language of many unix/linux/bsd administrators.

[CrimsonLink]

PHP has gone really further and is moving ahead.

As you have unlimitied resources in the open source community, it serves much more as a community. While .net constraints itself to closed corporate users, majorly because of the cost reason.

As per the NetCraft Survey,

Year PHP Usage
--------------------------
Jan 2000 1400000
Jan 2001 5200000
Jan 2002 7600000
Jan 2003 10000000
Jan 2004 15000000
mar 2004 15600000
May 2004 16000000

[webcoder]

HMnn...
This discussion seems to be getting more & more interesting.
The fun part is, nowadays even .NET people are following the Opensource Platform (??).
Check this out: http://www.dotnetnuke.com

If I may ask a few questions:
(1) What is the growth rate on PHP usage in USA/Europe/Asia/Australia?
(2) What is corporate outlook towards use of PHP?
(3) How far PHP5 is heading towards application development (GTK??)

I am also a PHP lover (well, I started during 1999).
I am definitely FOR PHP, but am also concerned about the job market...career opportunity & future.

Regards
WC

[HardCoded]

There is an interesting comment on the scalability of PHP vs. other languages on Schlossnagle's blog.

[lukejackson]

Let me list the top ten reasons PHP is better than the rest.

1. Most of us do not support Microsoft and their dreams.
2. .NET supports Microsoft and their dreams + costs money most of us don't want to spend.
3. PHP supports both Linux and Microsoft and costs nothing.
4. Many young users that don't have boatloads of money are going to fiddle with PHP and in a sense grow up with the technology.
5. Cost for a small business to set up a completely dynamic site using NON Microsoft products $ 0.00.
6. Cost for a small business to set up a completely dynamic site using Microsoft products .NET > $PHP (Sorry I didn't care enough to find out the real costs.)
7. While large scale applications of PHP may be difficult realize what could happen, either we all suddenly agree to follow Microsoft and pay their ridiculous prices or PHP evolves just like everything else in life does.
8. <u>ghstdrgns</u> ”You also see that <u>97%</u> of all leased server space is UNIX based. This lends to the PHP/MySQL programming unit and increases the value of knowing PHP.” My point…
9. I am biased along with many other anti-windows youth that will and do make a difference.
10. I think we need a census to measure the size of each group therefore displaying the potential of each language because if the world knows PHP we are not going to pay to use .NET.

Although I am very one sided and totally against Microsoft I still think I have a very firm foundation beneath me.

Please feel free to reply as I am interested to see your opinions on much of what I have said.

Thanks,

Luke Jackson