[TriLUG] PHP

[Myrhillion]

I agree with Dave's idea to at least examine both.

If you give a serious look to each platform, you're setting them up to 
be able to explain both platforms objectively to folks down the road.
Objectiveness is a positive as a consultant, at least they'll have been 
exposed to both and have some hopefully positive/negative perspective 
for each.

Personally, for the few clients I've had, I've helped setup a Postnuke 
CMS and a Plone website.
If you choose php, you SHOULD also integrate some sort of RDBMS into the 
curriculum as php is a bit useless without one, be it MySQL, Oracle, or 
MSSQL.

As far as books go, I really like my "PHP and MySQL Web Developement" 
third edition.
If you use MySQL as the RDBMS, then use Paul Dubois' MySQL 2nd 
edition.   Both from www.developer-library.com...

I have a fairly dated VB6 book, so I have no comment there.



matusiak wrote:

> 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
>
>