[thelist] Linux/PHP/MySQL advantages over WinNT/ASP/MSSQL?

Steve Cook sck at biljettpoolen.se
Thu Oct 5 02:35:27 CDT 2000


Hi Lauri,



> -----Original Message-----
> From: Lauri Väin [mailto:optima at hot.ee]

> > Or do you do this work for the company part time? Either 
> way my advice is
> > "slow down" :-) You don't need to solve the company's 
> entire information
> > architecture problem today!
> 
> I work part time. And I'll consider slowing down :-) Some 
> people want just want
> their stuff online fast, thats all.

It sounds to me like you're in a position where you have been given too much
to do! You say you love your job which is fantastic, but boy - it sounds as
though you have a hell of a responsibility for someone who is part time!
Still, it's possible to achieve everything you aim to do but at some point,
people will have to understand that there's a fine line between difficult
and impossible :-)

This takes me back to why I posed the question in the first place. You
mentioned that either you help integrate new features for your user quickly,
or the consultancy company do it and it takes more time. Well, I would
suggest that perhaps you draw up a priority list of your tasks. Check the
list with your manager and get some idea of which areas of your job are most
important. That will help you define a plan of action - and will give you
some ammunition when people come to you and say "Hey, can you do this for
me?". You'll then be in a position where if you think you have time, you can
say "Yes, sure", but if you are stressed to hell you can say "You'll need to
get the consultants to take care of that".

Learning when to take a task yourself and when to delegate is a real
important skill in managing your own workload. 


> 
> > Secondly, in what way is ASP not cross-platform compared to 
> PHP? Check out
> > ChiliASP which runs on Linux. There are other free Linux based ASP
> > alternatives as well. OK, ASP isn't open in the way that 
> PHP is, but you can
> > still use it across a range of OS solutions.
> 
> Didn't know that, I thought that ASP was developed by MS and MS only.

Well, it is of course an MS technology, but there are alternatives produced
by people who want to have cross-platform ASP solutions. Hurrah!

> 
> > Thirdly, I'm glad you love your work, but I would recommend 
> that a more open
> > attitude towards different software technologies would 
> increase your value!
> 
> I have an open attitude (more or less). I try to learn as 
> much as I can, I just
> kind of gave the wrong impression (I was a bit pissed off at 
> the time writing my
> first posts :-)). Sorry!

Don't sweat it :-) I can understand that you were pissed in your first post.
I prolly would have been too! It's real difficult when you're the one who's
in the firing line and suddenly someone comes and takes away your gun!
(Awful analogy, but I think you get my drift). 

> 
> > By taking such a hardline approach, you are simply cutting 
> yourslef off from
> > being useful in more ways. I recommend that you build your 
> PHP skills.
> 
> I promise I'll try to learn other languages when I get the 
> time, ASP and Perl
> sound pretty good right now, any idea where I can get some 
> tutorials on them?

Aardvark posted a great list of ASP resources earlier in this thread. As far
as perl resources go, these aren't so much tutorials I'm afraid, but they
are my bookmark list. The absolute best starter to perl is the classic
"Learning Perl" from O'Reilly press (Also known as "The Llama Book"!)
http://perl.oreilly.com/

http://www.perl.com/pub
http://www.webreference.com/perl/
http://www.whitecrow.demon.co.uk/steve/iis4.html - perk on IIS 4
http://www.bpa.arizona.edu/mis307/perl-5.001-refguide.txt - perl
quickreference


Of course, it's always difficult to learn a new language - especially when
you're in the middle of 100 other jobs which HAVE to be done next week :-)
I've always found though, that having a definite goal (such as integrating a
voting script into a system in a new language) really helps the learning
process. You're mileage may vary of course....

I hope that the situation sorts itself out for you. Of course, you can take
some consolation in the fact that you have one of the web's best support
groups on hand to help you out when you run into the inevitable problems :-)

Good luck

.steve


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