[thelist] What tools should I use?
Ian Anderson
ian at zstudio.co.uk
Mon Sep 12 14:49:37 CDT 2005
Matt Warden wrote:
>Ian,
>
>I'm following you and agreeing up until this point:
>
>
Umm, Matt... that's only the first three lines
Oh well.
>Just because it is pre-installed on the PC, doesn't mean the cost
>should be dismissed. You still pay for it, and it should be factored
>into the total cost of developing with Windows-only technology.
>
>
I don't know where you are going with this. The idea presented was that
to start developing with ASP/IIS/SQLServer you are going to have to lay
out vast hidden costs in seats, which isn't the case.
>Major OSS solutions do not have this problem. It is only fair to
>compare major OSS solutions with MS solutions. And, in my experience,
>MS's documentation could learn a few things from that of the major OSS
>solutions out there.
>
>
I was referring to PHP and MySQL specifically. It's a subjective
opinion, but too often you have to go to 3rd party sites to get the
basic facts about these.
>>For example, older
>>MySQL doesn't support subqueries. It cost me two days to find this out
>>
>>
>
>Why's that? The issue is VERY well documented.
>
>
Not frickin well enough for this puppy... Yes, I found out in the end.
From a third party site.
>
>Two different versions of code? I might review how modular my code is
>if I were you.
>
>
Cheap shot... :) Yes, I would code a function. No, I'm not happy about
having to write conditional code for grabbing a frickin variable.
>You do not have to specify a table type in MySQL. It has a default.
>
>
PHPMyAdmin makes it look like you should have an opinion. You know it
has a default, but it's news to me.
Griping aside, I did a job this week working with a guy who set all the
database selects up using PEAR db classes; really nice to work with once
you get your head round the daft -> syntax for object properties.
I do like some bits of PHP, but overall LAMP sometimes feels like a
low-end, duck tape environment. Ironically, the most recent headache
came from running the PHP mail function on a Windows server with \n
escaped characters in the strings. Yes, it tells you in the PHP manual
you need \r instead, and once I read the same damn page a hundred and
fifty times it sunk in. Would it kill the SMTP server to return error
codes back to the web app?
Thanks for the feedback though, Matt, kind of gives me hope to keep
plugging away at it.
Cheers
Ian
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