I am quite new to development for the internet, and to programming in general. I am using Borland C/C++, and am running Windows 98 as the development environment. The Borland C/C++ basis for development and Windows 98 are fixed factors.
I would like to develop a web site that will enable me to have a user pay (pay pal?), register only after payment/donation, and once registered, log on using a password and user name, to access certain technical content. I need to be able to call up how many times the user has logged in and how long ago they registered each time they try to log in as part of an automated decision chain.
I know nothing of PHP, MYSQL, or Perl. (I just purchased a book on Perl and CGI programming in an initial attempt to get the information I need to begin to build the site, but I am not committed to Perl just yet.)
I am writing a C program to communicate with the remote site. That program will have to handle log in on the user end. It will also display information on the user end received from the server if authentication occurs. I am inclined to have a separate web site handle the registration activities, while the software I write handles logging in and displaying the information being provided at the user end.
Security will be paramount. (I don't want the web site html code and data base information to be accessible to any third parties, except as viewed on a web browser. I recognize that hiding html is not easy, but don't want script names made accessible for tampering by unauthorized users.) Do I need to focus on learning PHP? (Getting to the point where I can implement the C code is taking quite a bit of time already.) I understand that PHP permits one to manipulate MYSQL databases from within web pages. Is Perl a simpler and more effective and utilitarian option?
I am not in a position to spend any development dollars on this, so please keep that in mind should you offer any suggestions or insights.
