FAQ - Perl or PHP

For 2023 (and 2024 ...) - we are now fully retired from IT training.
We have made many, many friends over 25 years of teaching about Python, Tcl, Perl, PHP, Lua, Java, C and C++ - and MySQL, Linux and Solaris/SunOS too. Our training notes are now very much out of date, but due to upward compatability most of our examples remain operational and even relevant ad you are welcome to make us if them "as seen" and at your own risk.

Lisa and I (Graham) now live in what was our training centre in Melksham - happy to meet with former delegates here - but do check ahead before coming round. We are far from inactive - rather, enjoying the times that we are retired but still healthy enough in mind and body to be active!

I am also active in many other area and still look after a lot of web sites - you can find an index ((here))

FAQ - Perl or PHP

"Do you prefer Perl or PHP?".

That's a question that would go high up my FAQ if I maintained one. But there's no easy answer; "it depends".

PHP is a fabulous language for use with web site work and embedded there. Rasmus Lerdorf and all the others involved have done a fantastic job in coming up with something that's more than just a language and provides a set of tools that let you provide amazing server side functionality. If I'm tasked with writing a web site with a server side that's more than just plain pages, I'll use PHP these days.

Perl is a quite remarkable language. You'll notice that my initial comment does not say anything about "Internet" or "Web" because Perl is much, much more than that - a general language that I'm comfortable using for complex data anaysis tasks, Systems admin, and data management in all its various forms. This does mean that when used on the Web, Perl can do an excellent job, but it's likely to be a little more complex than using PHP since with Perl you need to filter out the bits you want from all the general stuff rather than having all those bits there and close at hand as the defaults like PHP does.

And I do need to add "have you thought of Python? For a computer professional's scripting language on projects that continue to develop and need to be flexibly modified, perhaps by a team, it has a LOT going for it.
(written 2005-02-11, updated 2006-06-05)

Associated topics are indexed as below, or enter http://melksh.am/nnnn for individual articles

G908 - Well House Consultants - Language Comparisons
  [1582] Ruby, C, Java and more - getting out of loops - (2008-03-19)
  [1717] Q - Should I use Perl or Python? - (2008-07-23)
  [1990] Speaking all the languages - (2009-01-12)
  [2700] The same very simple program in many different programming languages - (2010-03-31)
  [2755] Books in the store in the USA - still a portent of the UK market to come? - (2010-05-08)
  [2866] Ruby - how does it compare and where is it the right language? - (2010-07-11)
  [2947] Teaching Lua to a Perl advocate - (2010-09-06)
  [3003] What will we be teaching in six years? - (2010-10-17)
  [3112] Public and private courses - subjects available for 2011 - (2010-12-29)
  [3169] Rekeying a table - comparison in #Ruby #Perl and #Python - (2011-02-14)
  [3785] Programming languages - what are the differences between them? - (2012-06-27)

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Some other Articles

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Tcl/Tk (wish) Grid layout example
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Joining lists in Tcl. Indirect variables in Tcl.
FAQ - Perl or PHP
Examples - Gadfly, NI Number, and Tcl to C interface
Canteen Dragon
Fox and Python
PHP5 lets you say no
The confidence to allow public comments

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This is a page archived from The Horse's Mouth at http://www.wellho.net/horse/ - the diary and writings of Graham Ellis. Every attempt was made to provide current information at the time the page was written, but things do move forward in our business - new software releases, price changes, new techniques. Please check back via our main site for current courses, prices, versions, etc - any mention of a price in "The Horse's Mouth" cannot be taken as an offer to supply at that price.

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