Comments on: PHP - A Programmer’s Perspective http://www.prusak.com/how-did-we-get-here/ Online Since 1996 Fri, 18 May 2012 02:19:49 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.7 hourly 1 By: Dave http://www.prusak.com/how-did-we-get-here/comment-page-1/#comment-7 Dave Thu, 18 Nov 2004 05:30:50 +0000 http://www.prusak.com/archives/2004-11-04/how-did-we-get-here/#comment-7 Actually, there is a product out there that will compile PHP scripts into windows executables. I've never tested it, but it's out there. Or, you could ship some scripts with the php executable and a batch file for putting it all together. Your code would be all exposed that way, but that's not always a problem. Or, on *nix/OSX, you can just include a bit of shell scripting at the top of your php doc and list php as a dependancy. I run PHP scripts on lots of machines that don't even have web servers installed. None of this is as ideal as a real, crossplatform, PHP compiler, but we may get there someday. Until the, you can make it work if you're willing to get creative. Actually, there is a product out there that will compile PHP scripts into windows executables. I’ve never tested it, but it’s out there. Or, you could ship some scripts with the php executable and a batch file for putting it all together. Your code would be all exposed that way, but that’s not always a problem.

Or, on *nix/OSX, you can just include a bit of shell scripting at the top of your php doc and list php as a dependancy. I run PHP scripts on lots of machines that don’t even have web servers installed.

None of this is as ideal as a real, crossplatform, PHP compiler, but we may get there someday. Until the, you can make it work if you’re willing to get creative.

]]> By: Manolo Gómez http://www.prusak.com/how-did-we-get-here/comment-page-1/#comment-6 Manolo Gómez Wed, 10 Nov 2004 05:37:55 +0000 http://www.prusak.com/archives/2004-11-04/how-did-we-get-here/#comment-6 Whoa, about time I see a good article like this. Congrats. I agree completely in the definitions you give (truly, where are administrators?), and I've had many good experiences using PHP to solve computer science specific problems, like building a compiler, genetic algorithms, design patterns. Things like Object-relational mapping, workflow engines and business rules engines are hard to do in PHP (compared with Java for instance), but you can make them if you have in mind the quirks of PHP, being stateless, script language and such. I only wish that someday, PHP could become a full fledged platform for standalone applications but keeping the web specific parts as easy as it is now. Whoa, about time I see a good article like this. Congrats.
I agree completely in the definitions you give (truly, where are administrators?), and I’ve had many good experiences using PHP to solve computer science specific problems, like building a compiler, genetic algorithms, design patterns. Things like Object-relational mapping, workflow engines and business rules engines are hard to do in PHP (compared with Java for instance), but you can make them if you have in mind the quirks of PHP, being stateless, script language and such.

I only wish that someday, PHP could become a full fledged platform for standalone applications but keeping the web specific parts as easy as it is now.

]]> By: ali khalili http://www.prusak.com/how-did-we-get-here/comment-page-1/#comment-5 ali khalili Tue, 09 Nov 2004 16:36:05 +0000 http://www.prusak.com/archives/2004-11-04/how-did-we-get-here/#comment-5 hello.Thanks for your good article! hello.Thanks for your good article!

]]> By: JIm http://www.prusak.com/how-did-we-get-here/comment-page-1/#comment-4 JIm Tue, 09 Nov 2004 15:25:43 +0000 http://www.prusak.com/archives/2004-11-04/how-did-we-get-here/#comment-4 Well said. I agree with you entirely and have often had the same thought myself. I rarely read PHP articles (and almost skipped over yours) because I am so used to seeing articles with a million (often poorly written) detailed lines of code to solve a specific problem in a specific fashion. And, when I say specfic problem, I don't mean anything interesting like... Object Persistence, or, scalable file-upload solutions. I mean things like, guestbooks, email forms, and blogging engines. I look forward to reading your next article. Well said. I agree with you entirely and have often had the same thought myself. I rarely read PHP articles (and almost skipped over yours) because I am so used to seeing articles with a million (often poorly written) detailed lines of code to solve a specific problem in a specific fashion. And, when I say specfic problem, I don’t mean anything interesting like… Object Persistence, or, scalable file-upload solutions. I mean things like, guestbooks, email forms, and blogging engines.

I look forward to reading your next article.

]]> By: BDKR http://www.prusak.com/how-did-we-get-here/comment-page-1/#comment-3 BDKR Tue, 09 Nov 2004 13:51:13 +0000 http://www.prusak.com/archives/2004-11-04/how-did-we-get-here/#comment-3 I agree with you by and large, but there is just one point where I'm a little confused. Why do you put administrators in with designers? These are two totally different animals. <em><strong>ophir</strong>: I've added footnote #2 to address this question.</em> I agree with you by and large, but there is just one point where I’m a little confused. Why do you put administrators in with designers? These are two totally different animals.

ophir: I’ve added footnote #2 to address this question.

]]> By: Dave http://www.prusak.com/how-did-we-get-here/comment-page-1/#comment-2 Dave Thu, 04 Nov 2004 21:28:59 +0000 http://www.prusak.com/archives/2004-11-04/how-did-we-get-here/#comment-2 I agree with you. I used to teach an afterschool class in general computing. PHP is a great vehicle for teaching the fundamentals of programming, but the teacher must be careful to teach programming, not PHP. I find, it's often beneficial to look at more than one programming language when teaching programming concepts. I like languages with similar syntax (C, C++, Java, Javascript, PHP) because you don't have to spend much time explaining the language. It seems to help, when demonstrating different concepts to show them in more than one language, even if the students are only going to work with one language. I find, it seems to help separate concept from application. I agree with you. I used to teach an afterschool class in general computing. PHP is a great vehicle for teaching the fundamentals of programming, but the teacher must be careful to teach programming, not PHP. I find, it’s often beneficial to look at more than one programming language when teaching programming concepts. I like languages with similar syntax (C, C++, Java, Javascript, PHP) because you don’t have to spend much time explaining the language. It seems to help, when demonstrating different concepts to show them in more than one language, even if the students are only going to work with one language. I find, it seems to help separate concept from application.

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