Hmm...so it can be used to create programs too? I was thinking more along the lines of web applications.
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Practical Uses for PHP?
- Thread starter conkermaniac
- Start date
Hmm...so it can be used to create programs too? I was thinking more along the lines of web applications.
Originally posted by Cagez
It can make graphics too -- and PDF documents! Ha, I'd like to see your little JavaScript make a PDF document!
(Let me tell you a little secret, when I first heard of using a database on the web, I thought it was stupid and that there was no reason in using one!
Don't worry...I am actually quite well-informed on MySQL, and I like it a lot. But it seems like almost everything that I want to do depends on MySQL, so I was wondering if PHP could be used to do anything. And it can!
From what I've seen, PHP alone cannot make Acrobat files. It takes other implementations and mods in order to do such tasks. And I believe there are such versions of JavaScript.
Funny you should mention JavaScript though - I actually use VBScript for all my little web applications (and if you don't have IE, too bad
). It's offline counterpart, VB, is immensely powerful, and I'm sure you could create more things with that than PHP, LOL. 
Maybe because Visual Basic was designed to use in developping full applications and PHP was designed to be used as a server side scripting language.Originally posted by conkermaniac
It's offline counterpart, VB, is immensely powerful, and I'm sure you could create more things with that than PHP, LOL.
When you start comparing VB, you're getting into two completely different things. But since VB was brought up, I'll go ahead and say this......
I think it *is* possible to make PDF's in PHP without any external libraries. Somewhere out there you can find VB code that converts text to PDF. It was some really simple code, that just involved adding some strings of text to the file. All the functions tha were used, are most likely in PHP =)
I think it *is* possible to make PDF's in PHP without any external libraries. Somewhere out there you can find VB code that converts text to PDF. It was some really simple code, that just involved adding some strings of text to the file. All the functions tha were used, are most likely in PHP =)
LOL, I never thought comparing PHP and VBScript was fair, but Cagez tempted me when he made fun of JavaScript! :biggrin2:
:biggrin2:
Actually, quite the contrary. I hate JavaScript.
Well, if that's the case, would you like to give us some practical uses?
Uses of what? Client-side scripting? I use to think there weren't any practical uses for it, until I really got into it.
For one, client-side includes allows someone to insert text/html from another site without having any SSI capabilities, like what PHP and Perl has. Nedstat counters use this, rotating banner scripts use it, and those PayPerClick search engines....just for starters.
Menu's are nice too. Simple ones, like dropdown combo boxes that switch pages without clicking a button.
For those who like popups/popunders, I'm sure they're thanking Sun for the language
When you need a link to display text that consists of 10 or 15 words, it's a pain to create a separate html/php page with those 10 or 15 words. Sure, you could make it a small-sized popup, but you still need to make a new HTML file, plus the popup code. Problem solved with the alert() function.
Basically, there are practical ways to control the user's browser that PHP *cant* do, that might become necessary.
For one, client-side includes allows someone to insert text/html from another site without having any SSI capabilities, like what PHP and Perl has. Nedstat counters use this, rotating banner scripts use it, and those PayPerClick search engines....just for starters.
Menu's are nice too. Simple ones, like dropdown combo boxes that switch pages without clicking a button.
For those who like popups/popunders, I'm sure they're thanking Sun for the language
When you need a link to display text that consists of 10 or 15 words, it's a pain to create a separate html/php page with those 10 or 15 words. Sure, you could make it a small-sized popup, but you still need to make a new HTML file, plus the popup code. Problem solved with the alert() function.
Basically, there are practical ways to control the user's browser that PHP *cant* do, that might become necessary.
I wouldn't rely on Javascript to make sure that a page is shown properly. If they're using a different browser or possibly a different version then the one you tested with and something goes wrong or they simply have it turned off, your page will look awful.
A good example would be geocities. Nearly half of the time I go to a geocities page I get a scripting error because of the ad they automatically include.
A good example would be geocities. Nearly half of the time I go to a geocities page I get a scripting error because of the ad they automatically include.
well....VBScript then? There's just some places PHP/Perl can't go... but the JS uses I was referring to above can be done in IE/Netscape compatible code. I wouldnt touch anything that works in one but not the other. I just wish to God that NS supported iframes and IE supported server-push.
There's just some places PHP/Perl can't go... but the JS uses I was referring to above can be done in IE/Netscape compatible code. I wouldnt touch anything that works in one but not the other. I just wish to God that NS supported iframes and IE supported server-push.
Wait a second...I was just reminding spec to stick to the topic and provide some additional examples of why server-side scripting is useful. I'm quite aware of why client-side scripting is useful.
