[ILUG] [OT] Which programming language ?

[Gareth Eason]

	   Hi,

	Good call :-)

	I reckon MySQL and PHP are perfect for the job at hand. It's so easy to 
connect to and query a MySQL database from PHP that it's actually more 
work to try and build some flat file format for your data. So the first 
thing would be to get MySQL up and running, design your tables (if 
they're not designed already) and populate them with some data.

	If <?php phpinfo() ?> in a .php webpage returns a big table of settings 
and configuration items on your server, you have PHP configured and up 
and running.

	Full documentation is generally included with a RedHat installation and 
google will provide you with LOADS of examples, code snippets, etc.

	Do try and make a decision as to how much of the calculation work you 
want to do in SQL (so the database engine does the work) and how much is 
done in the PHP (so the webserver does the work.) While COU load may not 
be an issue, it's more maintainable to do all the calculations on one 
place. I'd suggest the PHP code - but you may prefer - or already have - 
lots of calculations in SQL, in which case you can just plug them in.

	Best regards,
	-->Gar

Declan Grady wrote:
> Rory Browne wrote:
> 
>> I had to laugh at the suggestion of VB on a Linux mailing
>> list(although TBH [OT] was in the subject). From your description of
>> what you need, I think Perl would be best for your needs:
>>
>> 1: You already have basic Perl experience. 2: Perl is Cross Platform.
>> 3: Perl integrates with most GUI Kits (wxWidgets, Tk, Gtk, to name but 
>> a few)
>> 4: Perl has an excellent DBI module.
>> 5: Perl can be compiled into native binaries, using perlcc, as well as
>> interpreted normally.
>>
>>  
>>
> OK. I had a quick look at php on my deadrat apache box yesterday (oh the 
> joys of apt4rpm !), and I do like the idea of having a browser as a client.
> To fill in the picture a bit, my app is for calculating materials and 
> labour required to make a product.
> My current app has around 30 tables of pricing and another 15 or so of 
> standard figures which are used to calculate labour times.
> The tables would be queried to provide options in the app, and also 
> queried to perform a recalc of a previously saved set of data.
> 
> what db should I look at ?  is MySQL a bit overkill .. I was even 
> considering flat files, but then I guess its reinventing the wheel to 
> query these files.
> 
>> If you'd like to learn something new, then I'd consider python.
>>  
>>
> I have used a bit of python for some fourier analysis of wav files 
> (source from a kind person on this list) but thats about all.
> 
>> But then again, choice of programming language can often be a personal
>> choice, in that what I might consider a good choice may not suit
>> anyone else.
>>
>>  
>>
> True..  bear in mind my only experience of building gui's is in VB and 
> some VBA for access & word. Very basic stuff. (no pun intended).
> 
> Recommended online tutorials / books for php would be most welcome.
>