Well, I know how a lot of people here doesnt like this topic, but I actually LOVE to get in the middle of these fights and stand for PHP.

Why? Well, I think it's good way to point out the good and bad things on the tools I work with, and I'll end up better prepared for marketing my PHP solutions.

So go on and flame...In general terms, what's so good about PHP to compete with .NET, ColdFusion, etc? Why does those alternatives suck? (or desnt?)

In particular tell me how can I offer something as good as verity collections in ColdFusion and with competitive price (for those who dont know, ColdFusion license comes with Verity). I cant find something similar for PHP.

    1) you really can't compare php and coldfusion because one is client and server site (coldfusion) and the other is stricktly server side (php).

    2) .NET is a better solution on MS then PHP because of all the functionality that is already there for you to use which would need to be built in php.

      Originally posted by drawmack
      1) you really can't compare php and coldfusion because one is client and server site (coldfusion) and the other is stricktly server side (php).



      Not true. You can compare them --as a matter of fact you did. They are not completely different just because php does not output javascript (or any other kind of client side stuff).

        didn't think so 😉

        in any case im not in any position to dis most languages, because because (hehe) i don't get paid for this, i only use PHP. i find it a great language, and have started to make some really cool things out of it. im starting into C(++)? and Perl, with a little bit of bash and python on the side.

          Cold Fusion is only for people who have huge servers and no care of the performance. At least, in my experience. Every CF Server I've seen just consumes massive amounts of resources for it's processes.

            The only advantages of using cold fusion I've seen is that it integrates better with MS software than php does.

            If you spec out a server or a client has a server already and needs it to be Win2k/IIS then coldfusion is probably the better choice (or ASP) but if you want cheaper, more reliable web server and software, go with LAMP. Linux Apache MySQL PHP

            Another advantage of PHP is it's portable. You can write your code on a linux server and move it to Solaris or to Windows with only minor changes if any.

            As many are fond of saying around here, it's all about using the right tool for the job.

            • keith

              Yar!

              Though I've never used CF, I've been involved with the servers a couple of times. Now if I was on a strictly MS server, I'd be using ASP, not CF

                ASP? what are you, in the dark ages? I for one would be useing .NET, probably Perl.NET if i can get my hands on it.

                  I don't put myself in that position very often. You can have all the ASP, .NET, MS stuff ya want. I'm fortunate enough to have ownership over most of my servers, and the ones using Windoze, I still have control over the DB and apps 🙂

                    well ive never worked with a windows server, but im just saying that if Perl.NET turns out to be effiecient enough to use, and i had to use .NET, that's what i'd go with.

                      So if you are on *NIX you would always choose LAMP ?

                      Another question, what about verity? I really need a tool that indexes content of .doc, .pdf, .xls, etc for LAMP. Until today I havent been able to search within MS Office documents and it sucks cause is the format chosen by everyone (almost)

                        Originally posted by abx_2112
                        ColdFusion has some client side stuff... very few ppl uses them though.

                        http://livedocs.macromedia.com/coldfusion/6/CFML_Reference/Tags-pt161.htm

                        So what's client-side about that? It still gets processed by the server and the client still receives HTML and optionally some Javascript. It's perfectly feasible to write a PHP library to do the same thing. Cripes, old CGI.PM could do that!

                          Originally posted by keith73
                          Another advantage of PHP is it's portable. You can write your code on a linux server and move it to Solaris or to Windows with only minor changes if any.

                          Actually, if you do it right, all PHP coded sites can be cross platform with no changes at all. The trick is to use relative paths rather than absolute.

                          But you're correct. It's the right tool for the right job.

                            Originally posted by abx_2112
                            So if you are on *NIX you would always choose LAMP ?

                            Another question, what about verity? I really need a tool that indexes content of .doc, .pdf, .xls, etc for LAMP. Until today I havent been able to search within MS Office documents and it sucks cause is the format chosen by everyone (almost)

                            there are perl modules that can read and write .xls but I always tell folks to save the .xls file as .csv before uploading. You don't need all that formatting and calculations in a datafile.

                            php has some pdf capabilities. I've never used them before.

                            If microsoft would stick to open document standards, open source languages would easily be able to read and write word docs. But because they don't play nice with others, sometimes the only way to go would be with a Micorsoft solution. You could run them together. Write all of your php code for everything but use the cold fusion for the document handling stuff.

                            • keith

                              Originally posted by keith73
                              If microsoft would stick to open document standards, open source languages would easily be able to read and write word docs. But because they don't play nice with others

                              Because if they did "play nice" they wouldn't make any money!

                                Oh, and g*d forbid Mr Gates loses his "Richest man in the world" status