php compared to java

[karin]

I´m about to build an intranet site and I have to make a choice to use JAVA or PHP. Can someone please point out the different advantages for both languages?

Thanks a lot!

Karin

[[deleted]]

PHP is dead easy, Java is much more complex.
If you are still wondering about which to use, I assume you don't know either of the two very well (no offence)

PHP is much easier to learn than Java.

[Anon]

Java will take a much longer time to deploy a site. You also really need pretty strong programming skills to use it effectively. If you don't already have people who know Java well, don't use it.

A well architected Java system can be more powerful than php but you can do pretty much everything quicker and simpler with php. For a small to medium site Java is probably overkill. You might consider it in a large scale and backend heavy environment.

It can get really interesting when you start calling Java objects from php.

[Anon]

I agree with vincent:
If you're having to ask the question then you want to start with PHP.
If you don't have a programming background then you won't be able to get far with java without professional courses or a year with your head in a few books.
Besides, you'll love php.

[frymaster]

i disagree with vincent to some degree in that i don't think that java is really all that hard. it has a few quirks but it comes with all the conveniences of a modern language (automatic garbage collection, no messing arround with malloc() or similar, full feature string manipulation). it generates semi-meaningful errors (a good thing) and has great built in error handling too. Furthermore, jdbc is pretty powerful for database access and more is portable than php's not-so-universal approach. the stuff that is counterintuitive in java are the ui libraries (swing, awt) BUT if your developing a web app that's not an issue... and swing is still way easier than qt, gtk+ or mac toolbox. lastly, there are a bajillion free classes out there for java that provide you with all sorts of neato keano functionality. while php is getting there in this department, java has a massive head start. heck, if you want my java versions for explode() and implode() i'll email them to ya.

having said all that, i'd still reccommend php. the implementation is so easy and the language so forgiving that it's almost a no-brainer.

oh yeah, php's online documentation is better than javasoft's ("the trail" sucks... and james gosling can't write)

[[deleted]]

I guess the main diff is that Java is a programming language, and PHP is a scripting language.

They can both do about the same, especially when it comes to web apps, but PHP was designed to be light-weight, fast and furious, where Java was designed to be a multi-platform application-development language.

As most web apps are not that complex, I feel java is overkill.

[karin]

It is really interesting that you mentioned calling java objects from php cause it´s ok here to use php but they would like the databaseconnection-functions to be in java. Look I prefer php cause I have worked with php and I have done a little java but no webapplications. I now it is an easy language. There are some requirements like: it should work on all platforms, fast development, objectoriented and compatible with the J2EE standard.

[kparker]

I guess the main diff is that Java is a programming language,
and PHP is a scripting language

That's a distinction that has no real basis in technology, isn't it?
It seems to me that marketing and political considerations are
the determining factors here--kind of like the old question human
languages:

Q: What's the difference between a 'language' and a 'dialect'?

A: A language has an army; a dialect doesn't.

[[deleted]]

Well, it sounds good anyway :-)