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Re: Database question

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From: Gary Hayden-Sofio
Date: May 17, 2002 6:43AM

Raleigh -

If you're quite comfortable with coding HTML and can afford the expense of CF Server, CF warrants consideration.

With your familiarity with HTML code, you already understand the structure of CFML (ColdFusion Markup Language - tags and attributes). And with that in hand, you're spending your time developing web apps - not learning a new language.

I know very little about PHP or ASP. But I did partake in a comparison between ASP and CF. As objective as I can be, it did seem fairly clear that CF is a simpler syntax - and yet every bit as effective and powerful.

Not that it is the only or main consideration here, but I'd take a look at the syntax of each language. Compare them and see what sits well with you.

Gary H-S


>>> "Michael Goddard" < <EMAIL REMOVED> > 05/17/02 08:02AM >>>
Raliegh,

With your university being UNIX and specifically stating that ASP is not an
option, then I would strongly suggest going with PHP. More than likely it
is already installed on their UNIX servers and if it is not, then it is a
free download from www.php.net . PHP is a fairly easy to learn server side
scripting language that can be installed on both UNIX(Linux) and Windows
flavor servers and it is opensource so there is a lot of great information
on the web that can be found for help.

You will find that PHP is used a lot in conjunction with MySQL
(www.mysql.com) which is a opensource, high powered sql server. If you
university does not have this database, they can download it from the above
mentioned site and install it. Since it is opensource...it is FREE!
However you are not limited to MySQL. You can use any type of sql based
databases (even Access - with odbc support). We have successfully used PHP
to interact with MySQL, SQL Server, Access, Oracle, and PostgreSQL(sp?).

Learning curve for PHP is low and in fact, I myself started out with just
design and HTML. No programming experience and I found learning PHP and
MySQL to be a lot easier than I thought.

If you are unsure about what you would like to do, I strongly suggest
setting up a testing environment on your local machine and giving it a try.
You can install Apache web server, PHP and MySQL on your windows PC ( I am
assuming you are using Windows) and create a working test environment really
easy. Plus it is great practice to learn how to install and understand the
structure. If you don't have the time to do manual installation,
www.phpgeek.com has a program called PHPTriad which will install all three
of the above mentioned software and automatically configure everything for
you on a Windows environment. Awesome program!

I hope that helps you out a bit and below I provided some web site URLs that
might help you out in your quest:

www.phpbuilder.com
www.zend.com
http://www.evilwalrus.com/
http://www.phpworld.com/

Also just a quick mention, I believe the Macromedia Dreamweaver/UltraDev has
some type of support for using PHP within their editors etc.

HTH,

Michael Goddard, CIW
Internet Developer/Programmer
TDH Marketing & Communications, Inc.
8153 Garnet Drive
Dayton, OH 45458
Phone: 937.438.3434
Fax: 937.438.3453
E-Mail: <EMAIL REMOVED>

----- Original Message -----
From: "Raleigh Way" < <EMAIL REMOVED> >
To: < <EMAIL REMOVED> >
Sent: Thursday, May 16, 2002 6:42 PM
Subject: Database question


> Hello everyone,
>
> Please accept my apologies if my question is not appropriate for this
> list. I work in education, teach html, css, accessibiltiy and more,
> but I'm not a programer or network specialist. I read the digest
> from this list on a regular basis for tidbits of info. I've learned
> a great deal from being here.
>
> I'm in the beginning stages of learning how to put databases on the
> Net. I'm using Dreamweaver UltraDev and using Lynda.com's UltraDev
> CD to learn how to do it. The CD recommends ASP, ColdFusion or Java
> to set up database. In your opinion, what is the "best" way to go
> with databases. I know enough to know I don't know enough to ask the
> right questions yet. I wanted to go with ASP, but our campus is
> UNIX, and I've been told that ASP is not an option.
>
> TIA,
>
> Raleigh
> --
>
>
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