php ... asp ... cgi.. etc..

i do some basic web design (html and flash) - want to upgrade my skills in my spare time for more database driven styles - where's a good place to start? And what is most user friendly? asp? php?

ideas and input welcome please

thanks

php is very easy to get you started

for beginning languages, php is probably the best.. it's very 'user friendly', and can run on just about any platform... asp / .net stuff is also pushed alot, but besides the fact that the language is shoddy, it has MS-sized security flaws, and MS-level support (ie. sfa) you can also only run it on windows platforms....

i have been coding asp and php commercially for a bit now. i have always been rating php.

its free, you can download a whole pile of excellent prebuilt apps and sites which are also free. in fact this is a pretty good and easy way to get started building stuff - takes other peoples apps, get them setup and muck round.

database wise - mysql is the free standard and works along with php. its a good introduction to relational sql databases

I have done a number of web apps using php and asp. Recently i have got on to using asp.net and i find it pretty amazing.
It really makes big projects more scaleable.


I dont think il be ever going back to php or classic asp.

However there are some downsides to asp.net (asside from it being a ms product). I found that some web host wont fully support .net custom classes as they are compiled into dlls.

I think asp.net is the way of the future.

word.


(btw I do asp.net hosting )

I highly recommend PremiumSoft Navicat as a GUI for MySQL once you've gotten sick of command line

I use ASP and SQL Server in my job, but wouldn't recommend them for a beginner.

sick of the command line, pfft, never!!!

personally I think the command line forces one to gain an understanding of the underlying system that they wish to work with.

If you're going to start reccomend using a GUI for DBA work you might as well be using Access IMO.

Where about is this?

send me an email with what ya need

andrew@element78.co.nz

agreed, .net and j2ee web stuff should be heaps more scalable. but you are probably looking at a steeper learning curve getting started there.

its gonna be good to see which technology comes out on top in the next few years, or even if one does

you think j2ee has a chance in hell?

dunno, i think i lot of big enterprise is using it for internal stuff, but don't quote me on this

i remember reading a couple of years ago that sun did a survey of what their own programmers were running their personal web sites with.. something like perl 90%, php 5 % and then others. they still havn't figured why even there own people weren't using jsp

anyway - i hope it is round because competition will increase innovation

http://news.netcraft.com/archives/2004/03/01/march_2004_web_server_survey.html

Yeah it does force an understanding, but you don't need to keep learning how it works forever, and when you're trying to do 5000 things (many of which are non-db related) every day having a GUI makes it nice, quick, and easy. Especially if on the system you're using, the only way to enter some data is directly into the db.....


Access?

Does anyone know if you can do sql performance tuning on mysql?

well, since we're getting into which is a better language (php is the best beginning web language imo).... i'd defintely go with mod_perl, with a postgresql database.... once you work out CPAN, there's nothing you can't do

cheers guys -

I'll explain myself a bit better - Im not looking at spending to much time coding - more, being able to integrate things like prebuilt scripts like forums, guestbooks, blogs gallery's etc with out banging my head against a wall...does that make sense...

I do Java, and it's pretty easy. php is easier still to get started, but Java with it's IDEs might be easier for a beginner - the IDE basically highlights where your mistake is. Then again there may be php IDEs.

The problem with Java is not a lot of the lower end hosting places host java stuff. Even a lot of the big places don't. This isn't a problem commercially as you just throw your own server in, but for building smaller sites it might be a problem.

Some great sites to the learn basics on this sorta thing are:

- http://www.w3schools.com
- http://www.devguru.com

It that case php's probably your best bet. I made a whole site without understanding 100% how it worked, to start with.

i started with ASP, got into php a little but preferred ASP, been programming in ASP and VB for over 4 years now, for the last year and a half have been programming in ASP.NET and VB.NET (if you have time and $$$ this is the way i would go)