[TriLUG] PHP

[matusiak]

Hey Cate --

I'm not sure what the job market looks like down in Tallahassee, but up 
here in the Triangle I'd say these skills would have nearly a 50/50 
percent opportunity (maybe 60% PHP based on the type of mail I receive) 
of finding work.

In terms of MS development, most openings I see are looking for 
VBScript skills *or* .NET skills.  vb.net must be the new cycle of vb 
moved to the .NET platform, so staying current with the upshift of MS 
would be a good idea.  I really cannot argue the benefits of vb.net 
development, as I am quite unfamiliar with it, but learning it could 
definitely provide your students with future job competitiveness.

MS as a platform is ubiquitous.  Whether one needs to program 
specifically for/on that platform is still an open question.  The 
limitations to MS development (primarily server/OS platforms and 
portability issues) should be apparent to anyone following technology 
over the past decade or so.  But, just cause they're essentially 
crippled doesn't mean they are going away anytime soon.

The benefits of learning PHP are much easier to enumerate.

	00. Open Source development experience.
	01. Works with the best of breed database and web servers (mysql, 
postgresql, and apache to name a few).
	02. Similar enough to perl to allow for cross-language learning.
	03. There are plug-ins and components out the wazoo.  Not to mention 
full-blown CMSes and other group tools being actively developed (and 
freely available, in most cases).
	04. The job market for these skills is expanding rapidly, especially 
as shops begin to realize the power, flexibility, customization, and 
code re-use involved.

If I had to pick one, it would be PHP.  However, I would suggest 
changing the lesson plan to examine both languages with the students.  
Get two texts and teach them side-by-side with recurring attention to 
the broader perspective of 'programming principals.'  Provide the 
students with initial exposure to the two styles and assist them in 
determining which path they would choose for further study.

Just a thought,
dave m.


On Apr 28, 2005, at 3:04 PM, Cate Serino wrote:

> Hi Trilug members,
>
> Let me begin that, I am a instructor and want to prepare my students in
> the best way for the market place.  I have the opprotunity to teach
> either VB.net or PHP.  Any thoughts on either platform.  I know that I 
> am
> speaking to a bias crowd, but please keep you comments to your thoughts
> about the market place.  Meaning do you think that the positions in
> either PHP or vb.net will grow.  Also any recomendations for books for
> PHP.  Any help would be great.
>
> Many thanks,
>
> Cate Serino