Re: [users@httpd] [OT] Apache and PHP/MP

[Boysenberry Payne <boysenberry@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

When I was beginning perl seemed way too hard.  PHP was pre-installed
on my server so a ran with it.  I also used Javascript and Actionscript.
After a while perl seemed like the Holy Grail of languages and I found my
self pulled to it like a moth to a flame.  After using PHP for about 5 years
I finally got up the courage to try Perl.  I learned (am learning) Perl while
translating something I wrote in PHP to Perl.

After 3 months I'm nearing completion of my translation.  In finishing I've
noticed huge speed increases and have cut the weight of the code nearly
by half.

Getting mod_perl installed was definitely harder than getting php installed.
But using mod_perl has been so much more satisfying.  I would say unless
you want to really get into the nitty gritty of coding mod_perl is over kill for most
light weight web scripts, only in that it takes more know how to get up and
running and started.  There are so many peculiarities to perl you wont find
in the stricter c based languages (i.e. python, php, javascript, etc.)  For example,
the special variables like $_, $@, etc. aren't found in most common web based script
languages.  Whitespace is another one I hear a lot about.

Once you get your head around the odd perlisms it becomes clear they're useful
tools.  I myself love PHP as well as Perl.  Some people hate GUI, some hate
CLI for the same issues.  I think they both have usefulness.

I'm truly grateful to the the whole Open-source community; without them we
wouldn't be debating at all.  Instead we'd probably still use punch cards stuck
in some bad 60's sci-fi flick.  Think about all of those people sharing unix code
when this was all starting.  If they didn't imagine how slow it would all be going.

So one thing Perl has going for it is it's been around for a long time, undergoing
growth and change from a broad effort of many people, even longer than PHP.
PHP started with processing text as its goal.  Perl was a glue language, for site
administrators mostly.  The differences in their origins shaped their structures.
As a glue language Perl behaves like a few different languages.  PHP on the
other hand acts more like a shell for lower level C apps.  If you're used to awk
or shell scripting and moving into www development, then Perl will probably
be more accessible.  On the other hand if you have used other C based languages
like Javascript, etc then PHP makes a lot of sense.

Where Perl was most useful for me, inspiring my 3 month debacle, was extensibility
and handling apache processes.  mod_perl allows me to get into creating
apache handlers.  You can also use Perl in the Apache configuration files.

Maybe PHP does this now, or will shortly.  I imagine the next best thing to
creating it in Perl would be to do it in C though...

Thanks Apache Foundation for building the best server in the world, and for free too...

Boysenberry

boysenberrys.com | habitatlife.com | selfgnosis.com

On Nov 2, 2005, at 12:55 PM, Joshua Kogut wrote:

> Also, methinks perl was just too hard when I was just a *wee little*  beginner.  Now that I have a simpler language under my belt, I should probably try to tackle learning perl. Then, to see how much easier perl is, I will attempt to learn python (I HATE WHITESPACE SYNTAX).
>
> On 11/2/05, Joshua Kogut <jmkogut@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
> > > Oh yes, Visual Basic is also used very much. And Windows is also used much 
> > > more than Unix. Because they are better, right? :-)
> >  lol, you got me on that one. I dunno why I prefer php now, maybe because it has a cooler name...
>
>
>
> -- 
> ||  jmkogut  ||
> email: jmkogut@xxxxxxxxx
> || Networking: Where all your problems are category 5. ||