To PHP, or not to PHP

[StrangerInBeijing]

I've moved over to web dev using asp.net from deskop apps about 3 months ago.

So far, I found the .net easy to use, convenient, blah blah...but I'm just FED UP with all the performance issues on have when you rely on .net to do your things.

I really want to stick with web dev...find it really stimulating.

Now I look at some really good sites (like our forums here) and helllooooo...PHP!

So I started thinking of carry on doing asp.net at work (too late to turn back now), but start doing my own stuff in PHP, and eventually switch over to PHP (plan to start working on my own later this year)

Will anyone be so kind to tell me the pro's and con's of such decision, and wether you would advice it?

Also I would like some info like:
1) Good resources (sites, books, articles, forums, etc)
2) Startup tips
3) Most commonly used development tools. (gimme a text editor with numbered lines and I'm happy!)
4) Most commonly used technologies with PHP (like mySQL for db? how about ms sql server, which I'm pretty used to)

Thanks for your time, and hope to get some replies soon!

StraNger!

[Pc_Madness]

1) http://www.php.net for all your PHP needs And even cooler, http://www.php.net/md5 , allows you to search for information on a function easily.
2)Plan out what your doing if its going to be complcate
3) EditPlus is nice, and I quite like TextWrangler on the Mac, and of course PHPMyAdmin
4)PHP + MySQL is usually all you need to begin with. PHPMyAdmin is great tool to manage MySQL db's... I don't think theres much difference between MS SQL and MySQL though...
5

[StrangerInBeijing]

just seen on php.net, that php 4.sth were released this month...Datacide mentioned a book on php5....Sth I should know about the differen t versions?

to start out with, I ust got php and mysql for dummies.

Will go shop for books the week-end (if I can get anything in English.....these chinese are lucky man. Hundreds of books on every topic you can imagine in te shops. The a few english books in the corner... )

[Pc_Madness]

I wouldn't bother with PHP5 just yet, theres alot of changes or something that will break programs written in PHP4, so not many places use it.

[StrangerInBeijing]

I should have read the "Read First" post. Some great links there by VisualAd (Thanks bru!)

Can anyone tell me in all honestly if they agree with me, that adding php to my skills , and over time turning my back on asp.net, is a good idea???

least I will be able to put asp.net, ms sql, php, mysql on my resume.

[PlaGuE]

http://wrox.com/WileyCDA/WroxTitle/p...764579665.html

It helped me alot. its PHP5. I havent had any problems with it.

Also theres PHPEdit from http://www.waterproof.fr/

Get the free trial. if you like it. Buy the license. Or you can apply for a Personal License. Which is just as good and FREE. Which is what i have.Has FTP support.

Alot of People Prefer notepad.
A few people i know use Syn Text editor. From http://syn.sourceforge.net/

Then theres Dreamweaver. Not Free. But its koo. Has FTP support.

Theres tons of others. But these are what i know and have used.

----------------
I have a ASP.NET book. I dabbled in it for 6 months.
The oly problem i had was finding a ASP host.

You can pretty much embed the PHP in the HTML. Just like you do with ASP.


My dad had to learn ASP for work. Where-as I learned PHP to use as a hobby.

[visualAd]

There is no harm in learning another language. I prefer PHP of ASP.net for several reasons, but the main being that PHP is cross platform and I can have an entrie development envrionment runnning off my USB disk.

I am inclined to disagree with PcM, PHP 5 is now stable and the change from 4 isn't too bad. You'll have most problems if your programs make a lot of use of PHP 4's object model, however, it is still backward compatible.

[StrangerInBeijing]

I kinda got used to using CrimsonEditor for editing html...maybe stick with that, will see.

Right now looking at Apache Web Server. I see I can use IIS, but why not make use of the oppurtunity to add apache to my skills, and in the future, get me another box, figure out linux, and have apache run on it?
I read here like 65% of websites use apache, 25% IIS...wow! Would never have guessed.

This is gonna be fun....one set of technologies at work, another for home .

[StrangerInBeijing]

I am inclined to disagree with PcM, PHP 5 is now stable and the change from 4 isn't too bad. You'll have most problems if your programs make a lot of use of PHP 4's object model, however, it is still backward compatible.

...hmmm...and I liked the way this php with mysql for dummies started.
got php5 and mysql bible too now, so will carry on with that, after learning to install and use apache and mysql.

[Pc_Madness]

I am inclined to disagree with PcM, PHP 5 is now stable and the change from 4 isn't too bad.

Ahh, that must be why every hosting company offers PHP 5 now instead of PHP 4... oh.. hang on a minute..

[visualAd]

My hosting company offers both. The website I run also uses PHP 5.

Apache 1.3 with PHP 4 is still the most stable and recommended for production environments though, which is why most hosts only offer PHP 4. I have run into a few bugs with PHP 5 so you are right, I just don't agree.

[CornedBee]

PcM, the companies offer PHP4 because of existing code. But continuing to write code in PHP4 now would be a mistake, I think. PHP5's object model offers a lot over PHP4, and several other extensions are very nice, too. (PDO anyone?)

[visualAd]

I split the Linux posts to this thread: http://www.vbforums.com/showthread.php?t=382595

[CornedBee]

My hosting company offers both. The website I run also uses PHP 5.

Apache 1.3 with PHP 4 is still the most stable and recommended for production environments though

I agree about the PHP part, but no way is Apache 1.3 in any way recommended over 2.

[BramVandenbon]

just wanted to add: Dreamweaver these days works great with PHP. These days Dreamweaver and PHP go together like C# and Visual Studio. You should really give it a shot. You won't regret it.