is PHP for me?

griso_62

I'm from Asuncion-Paraguay, SouthAmerica, develop application that runs on DOS, WINDOWS, LAN, some of them on UNIX, LINUX, but most of them on WINDOWS... I should, or better, must move towards web based applications 'cuz most of my clients are moving to the web area leaving me behind... a few months ago started to get involved into a research about that word LAMP and I come to realize that could be the master key, but now, again, started to doubt about it, I mean maybe I'm just afraid, I'm working with visual foxpro and was trying to work with mysql together when I found the word LAMP, and really got stuck with PHP, felt that weird attraction... and the question is should I move on, 'cuz right now I don't have any demand on making any any web application, but somewhere I heard that this tool could help me in LAN, and even in a standalone PC, I just wanna hear some advice, to adjust my direction...
thanks alot,
Guillermo

maxpup979

Chuckle. Of course PHP is the one true path...🙂 What else would you expect to hear from a PHP site...🙂

Seriously though, there are numerous technologies that would probably meet your needs. I have experience with most of them, and typically prefer PHP. I have found that it is fast to develop, doesn't require all of the over head of some of the alternatives, and has the best support of any of them. But thats just me. I have no doubt if you posted this on a C# or Java forum, you would get a different viewpoint.

griso_62

thanks... I really really needed to hear, o read, this... I gathered too much information... that's why I asked for advice, I apreciate your quit response... I read enough and kinda tried a bit to taste how fast and easy PHP could be, I'm gonna try to focus my mind on this tool and try to learn more about the database management that could meet my needs ( mysql or postgresql )... thank u

Jason_Batten

I strongly suggest the book PHP for the World Wide Web: Visual QuickStart Guide - 2nd Edition by Larry Ullman. He is the best author when it comes to introducing computer languages. Other authors just let their egos run wild, anyone can write a book about how much they know. Only a few can write a book and teach someone.

dalecosp

I have used PHP a lot since learning it. This is not to say that I might not have done the same thing with Perl, Python, Ruby, C, C++, or even sh (well, OK, that might be pushing it) if I had learned one of them first.

I've done this:

Created a web-based application that manages my checkbook, customer contacts, trouble tickets, work logs, invoices, received checks, appointment calendar, intra-office messaging, domain expiration information, DNS checks, and much more.
Some of my servers run PHP scripts to update themselves automatically.
Some of my servers use PHP to do nightly backups.
PHP downloads antivirus pattern files to one location on the LAN so all my machines don't have to go "out" to get them.
When I used a dial-up modem, PHP acted as the interface to kill the connection on command, and when I was away from the office PHP monitored the connection and redialed the PPP provider when it was dropped.

... and there's more. But, as I say, it's possible that I might have done most of this with some other tool. But PHP had a fairly easy learning curve and a good community to help me out (here!). So, I chose PHP.

NetNerd85 wrote:
I strongly suggest the book PHP for the World Wide Web: Visual QuickStart Guide - 2nd Edition by Larry Ullman.

Yeah, I like Larry's writing style, also. Plus, he's just an all around "good guy"....