perl and php similar?

• • Reply

  18 years ago

  by Diffusion

  David Wakelyn

  , Australia

  Joined 19 years ago

  I noticed php and perl were together on the devfusion menu. Are these languages the same or similar. Is php like an updated perl? thanks.

  Report abuse
• • Reply

  18 years ago

  by paulfp

  Paul Freeman-Powell

  Liverpool, United Kingdom

  Joined 19 years ago

  they're not the same, nor is PHP an updated version of PERL. however they are similar in some senses.
  

  
  PERL was originally developed for text processing, fulfilling the need for dynamic web environments. people used to prefer it to C, because although PERL is slower, C can easily produce security holes if not used carefully. so PERL's lack of speed was out-weighed by it's secure nature.
  

  
  PHP was written specifically for the web. it's a language in itself which means that unlike ASP, you dont simply use another language [vbscript or jscript] within it, you are using it anyway. it's better than PERL cos you dont have to intall lots of modules to allow you to write database driven environments, PHP makes the data available to you already. PHP is lightning fast when run on a server, not like PERL as a CGI.
  

  
  HOWEVER.... i much prefer ASP, even though I've had to do some stuff in PHP for clients, due to their servers. ASP is just generally nicer to use and more friendly, and it's so so so much easier to pick up, cos you can you javascript (called jscript...) or vbscript in it, so if you've done any Visual Basic programming or already know javascript, it's really easy to pick up. having said that, php is really similar to javascript (apart from its server-side stuff) so it's really easy to pick up also.
  

  
  so there you are

  Report abuse
• • Reply

  18 years ago

  by paulfp

  Paul Freeman-Powell

  Liverpool, United Kingdom

  Joined 19 years ago

  ... i think! correct me if i'm wrong, anybody!!

  Report abuse
• • Reply

  18 years ago

  by Thushan Fernando

  Thushan Fernando

  Australia :: Melbourne, Australia

  Joined 19 years ago

  paulfp,
  

  
  yes your correct there, i prefer ASP as well but PHP shouldnt be swept aside. On linux servers instead of using ChilliSoft ASP i would use  something like PHP but on Microsoft IIS servers it would definetly be ASP. Both are fairly easy to pickup and as you said any VB programmers would immediatley recognize and follow ASP better than PHP(its not hard but its different).
  

  
  I remember using Perl/CGI in the early days of my web development, it wasnt easy to make things and being young I got confused on how to do things. ASP is much easier and theres not much to configure unlike Perl does. Days of Unix were the days of perl if i recall correctly. people still use it but its slowly being taken over by PHP or ASP(and later i guess by ASP+).
  

  
  thats my 2cents worth!
  

  
  P.S. ON a totally off the topic subject, i visited your site to Delirious, i havent heard of them. My parents listen to christian music but i've never come accross that group before. I'm an Anglican myself confirmed into the faith 2 years ago!
  

  Report abuse
• • Reply

  18 years ago

  by paulfp

  Paul Freeman-Powell

  Liverpool, United Kingdom

  Joined 19 years ago

  yay, glad i was right
  

  
  hehehe my delirious? site... did you look at the screenshot of the new version? I'm slowly redesigning it in ASP, but unfortunately I've got exams in a week so it's going very slowly, whilst in the meantime the old version is up, which i'm keen to change as soon as possible!

  Report abuse
• • Reply

  18 years ago

  by gringod

  Gringod

  London, United Kingdom

  Joined 19 years ago

  I'd hacve to say that PHP is better.  I've foudn it to be just as fast if not faster than Asp on a win2000 server, and it is far more portable than ASP... if theres a webserver on a platform theres a PHP port for it. (the joys of open source!!!)
  

  
  Also, with the PHP GTK module you can create stand-alone apps... and once again, they'll run on any platform which has had PHP and GTK ported to it.

  Report abuse