On Feb 17, 5:38 am, Jonathan Sachs <js070...@sbcglobal.net> wrote:
> I'm a programmer learning PHP. I'm looking for some input on its
> strong and weak points compared to other server-side programming
> environments, e.g., Java Server Pages.
>
> Please note, this is not a religious question. Programming languages
> are tools to me. I just want information about where different types
> of solutions are likely to be optimal.

Advantages:
- Open Source, readily available (you can be using it today) and dual-
licensed - if you are doing non-profit work or not licensing, there is
no cost.
- Very Easy to understand Syntax, some really cool features (arrays
are something else!)
- Interfaces very easily with Apache/MySQL
- Server side (no need to futz with client installs - only with
rendering issues if you use CSS).
- Lots of good source code out there to use and/or learn from, as well
as many useful libraries for working with PDFs, graphics, etc.
- Lots of good books and on-line help (php.net is great)
- Platform agnostic, can run on Windows Linux or Mac servers. Also
very scalable.
- Lots of hosting services have it ready to use, no special
configuration (except if you have special security needs)
- Pretty easy to access other web-based tools through PHP (i.e. google
maps, etc.)

Disadvantages
- If you want to do more than just HTML/CSS pages on the client you
need to also add javascript, java or other client-side language in
your output (goes for Perl and some other languages).
- The way browsers work make handling data and coding programs more
interesting (technically each page is a new run on the system, so you
have to manage your variables coming in and going out and between
pages. Not hard, just different.)
- Web programming (regardless of language) is open to security flaws
due to unimplemented or unknown vulnerabilities, takes a bit more
caution.