Sarettah, whew, lots to think about there! You haven't seen it? Try out the public demo on the site.
Perl has been around for quite some time compared to PHP, it therefore has a lot more support, it was unlike PHP built to be a language not a web language...
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Hi Dravyk
I looked for you in Vegas but unfortunately never managed to hook up (don't even know if you were there, but assume you were), wanted to yak with you a bit about CG and various other stuff.... I haven't looked at your demo yet because I am currently developing a package (in conjunction with many many other projects). I have a rule that if I am developing something I don't look at what other folks have done until I get through my first rough cut of the entire implementation... That way, nobody can accuse me of stealing stuff
I know that seems paranoid, but "Just cause I'm paranoid, doesn't mean that they aren't out to get me". I did manage to hook up with Old Tom (who still writes in PERL for anyone who thinks NOONE uses it anymore).
The whole PERL versus PHP versus C is all bullshit imho. It is the Linux version of Basic versus C versus FoxPro versus whatever that goes on in the Windows world.. The COBOL versus Assembler that goes on in the Mainframe world (yes Virginia, there is still COBOL in the world), not to mention the Mac versus PC argument... Everything has their fans. I know many old timers out there who still swear by assembler. To me it is a tedious level to work at, but in the hands of the right person, it is powerful stuff... Fact is, any Programming language can be made to work well in the hands of a pro and any language can be made to work dog ass slow in the hands of someone who doesn't know what they are doing.
The original PHP was written in perl, by the way. And PERL was never really intended to be a programming language per se. It is a Unix/linux utility actually that was invented to be able to pull in text and spit it out in a formatted manner... actual acronym was Practical Extraction and Report Language. It is basically a report language (Any of you folks remember RPG on the IBM 34/36/38... Hell probably a lot of that code still running out there... RPG stood for Report Generation Program or some such). I report language differs from a Programming language in that a report language usually does not have to be super logic intensive... It reads in text and writes out formatted text.. That was PERL's original function. Through the years, it has ben reworked and rewritten into a fairly powerful language in which you can do some heavy duty logic routines etc.. But it's best functionality is still reading input and writing output... It can suck in entire text files into one string, many languages do not have that latent ability... Reading input and writing output makes it suited for good strong CGI apps.... PHP was originally doctored up PERL....
PHP has since been rewritten with C underneath (what hasn't) and it has been written with the NET in mind. Pretty much any other language was originally written for something else. PHP's strength is that it was written to interface with servers and produce HTML output... Thus, it is a very strong language in that department.
Myself, I am a windows database programmer. I work in the windows environment because fully 90% of business apps in the PC world are in Windows. I have only recently turned my attention to the NET programming wise. I program predominantly in FoxPro because I like it and it is a hell of a lot more powerful then most of the other stuff out there. FoxPro is XBase and uses Dbf formatted files (straight text sequential with a header in front) because of this, it is flat ass fast, when written properly.... It is written (once again) in C underneath everything.
Anyway, the whole point of this post is that there are not necessarilly good languages or bad languages. Each has it's strengths and weaknesses. In the hands of a pro, any language can be powerful, quick and robust. In the hands of someone who doesnt know what they are doing, they can be dangerous and cost you a ton of money.....
Just so you all know, I neither view myself as a pro or an amateur...lol.. or even a programmer... I am an Artist...lololol... and was given that dubious honor by my college Cobol instructor... After going up and arguing with him about the 2 points he had taken off my program and challenging him to show me a better way if he didn't like the way I did something, He stood up and addressed the class..he said "There are programmers, and there are Artists", then he looked directly in the eye and said "You are a goddamn artist".... One of my proudest moments...lol
Dravyk, on the lone musician, that is a fairly good analogy. If programmers liked to work in teams, or talk to people, they wouldn't be programmers...lol... Most programmers I knew are not exactly super socialites.... I like programming because computers don't argue with me, at least not often... and if they do argue, I'm allowed to hit them