zaterdag, oktober 07, 2006
Web programming
Yesterday I talked about creating web pages. But about2findout.com will not be just a collection of static web pages, it will be a web application that actually does 'stuff'' (stuff to be determined at this time :-) ). The application logic is handled at the web server side.
As I see it, there are three major web application languages: JAVA based servers, PHP based and ASP.NET based. Sure, there are some technical differences, but I think you should make the choice based on what you like best and what you feel familiar with. In the end you can do about the same things with all three. If you have some affinity with one or the other and know your way around in finding the necessary supporting communities and forums on the net, just go for that one. Otherwise you'll just end up in meaningless 'religious' discussions among techies that have no added value for your project.
Next time I'll comment on my search for a web host. ASP.NET hosting providers will likely be more expensive as JAVA and PHP providers don't pay license fees for their servers or applications.
As I see it, there are three major web application languages: JAVA based servers, PHP based and ASP.NET based. Sure, there are some technical differences, but I think you should make the choice based on what you like best and what you feel familiar with. In the end you can do about the same things with all three. If you have some affinity with one or the other and know your way around in finding the necessary supporting communities and forums on the net, just go for that one. Otherwise you'll just end up in meaningless 'religious' discussions among techies that have no added value for your project.
- For using JAVA you need to program in the JAVA language, created by Sun, and you need to host your site on a Java application server. Examples of the latter are IBM WebSphere Application Server or the open source JBoss that is now owned by RedHat. JAVA is a very powerful language, which is the same as saying it is hopelessly complex for beginning users who don't care about programming anyway and just need results. Personally I don't like JAVA because I find it 1) ugly, 2) needlessly complex and 3) slow. But that's just my opinion. More info here.
- PHP is a very popular language and a lot of open source projects are written in it, including popular open source Learning Management Systems such as Moodle, Belgian's own Dokeos or ATutor. There are freeware PHP Editors also. So if you want to leverage the vast amount of freely available PHP code, it's a good choice. It's also vendor neutral.
- ASP.NET is Microsoft's solution. You can program in a multitude of languages (visual basic, C#,...) that will end up in ASP.NET code for the Microsoft web server called IIS (Internet Information Services). If you program in ASP.NET, you will need to host your site on a Windows based server and probably use Microsoft's database SQL Server because as you guessed it, it's all kind of integrated. I've been a Microsoft Certified Trainer in a previous life, and I'm very familiar with their technology. So I'm biased towards working in ASP.NET because I have the most background in it. There is a freeware ASP.NET programming tool called Visual Studio 2005 Express Edition that you can use for programming and comes with free video tutorials.
Next time I'll comment on my search for a web host. ASP.NET hosting providers will likely be more expensive as JAVA and PHP providers don't pay license fees for their servers or applications.
