"Never trust a computer you can't throw out a window." - Steve Wozniak (PHP 4)

Member Name: ILoveJackDaniels

Product:	PHP 4
Date:	23/10/01 (110 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Very easy to learn, Very fast to write, Very powerful

Disadvantages: Now i've finished all my programming work for this month I'm bored...

---> INTRODUCTION:

I have decide to put together an opinion on one of the web's newest additions - an excellent tool for web programmers and designers called PHP. I've decided to split it into two sections - the first is an introduction which I'm keeping simple and non-techy ... and the second part is going to be full of stuff that makes no sense to people who get to go outside.

---> BACKGROUND:

PHP, now in it's fourth version, is a scripting language used to create interactive websites. It is a very simple, very new, and very easy-to-use programming language that combines elements of tonnes of programming languages already used on the web (for example Java, Perl and C).

PHP is an open-source language, which basically means it's free. It also means that most people who write using PHP will make what they've written available for free on the web. This means that people who don't have the time to spend learning a language will usually be able to find a program similar to the one they need already created on the web.

It's a very easy language to learn. It takes about a week to gain a basic understanding of how to write scripts and set up databases, and that's with only a working knowledge of HTML. It takes about 2-4 weeks to be able to set up a website with a fully interactive member system and message boards etc. The actual reason PHP was written in the first place was to allow web developers to write dynamically generated pages quickly.

If you are a web designer and have been thinking about learning to develop your own applications to use in your websites, then PHP is a gift from Heaven. It is extremely flexible and very easy to learn. For more information, you should have a look at www.php.net (which has lots of information and links for how to get started) or www.zend.com (who developed the fourth version of PHP).

Altogether, what this means is that the development an
d growing popularity of PHP among programmers should see a greater number of website using interactive features, and a greater quality of interacticity overall on the web - which can't be a bad thing.

---> TECH-BABBLE:

OK, so now I'm probably just talking to web-designers and similar "Outside? Where's that then?" types. You are probably wondering why you should listen to me and use PHP instead of Perl or Java or C++ or whatever you spent ages learning already.

Well, if you've already learned a language or two, the chances are that the language you already know is more powerful than PHP. PHP is designed to be easy and fast to use, and as a result languages such as Perl can be used to create more powerful applications.

Learning PHP is a doddle, as I've said above, and even more so if you know other languages. It borrows from Perl, C and Java, and users of these languages will find it very easy to pick up PHP virtually instantly.

It works very well with databases (especially if you want to create a community based site), and MySQL and Access databases are both compatible and easy to use with PHP.

PHP 4 is what I'm writing about, so it's would be a good idea for me to outline the basic differences between versions 3 and 4 (version 2 is now no longer used).

PHP 4 has basically been written from the ground up, while based on PHP 3, to be faster and more efficient. PHP 3 tended to run very slowly with high-traffic sites, and PHP 4 has been written with high volume traffic in mind.

There are also a large volume of new functions available with PHP 4. For example, PHP 4 supports FTP downloads and now recognises the 'Foreach' command (Perl programmers will recognise this). It is also backwards compatible, meaning those people who have written applications for use with PHP 3 will not have to re-write them from the ground up. Indeed, little or no modification wi
ll be needed to current PHP scripts.

Finally, PHP 4 includes support for sessions, which should help PHP designers to create more secure and faster e-commerce enabled sites.

---> END TECH BABBLE

PHP 4 marks a change in the way web pages will be written from now on. Gone are the days that Perl rules the interactive part of the web - now every man and his monkey can create a fully interactive web site in days, and with very little fuss or programming experience.

Whether you are an experienced web-guru or just starting on your first hobby-site, you should consider using PHP 4 to run your site - you will not regret it.

Summary: