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2.2.6 When to use PHP

This is NOT the latest copy of this book; click here for the latest version.

Owing to its fast development time, easy maintenance, and overall fast execution time, it is rare to find PHP is not the best choice for a web application. Homepages (big and small), database front-ends on the web, command line shell scripts where you want extra functionality, and even basic GUI development are all popular uses for PHP, and it excels at them all.

If you are doing anything that displays its text through a web browser, you are likely to find that PHP is your best choice. In the few rare occasions where you need higher performance, you may find that JSP will give you a small boost; otherwise you will need to use C. Be prepared for a very big productivity trade-off, however, as developing web scripts using C is much slower.

<< 2.2.5 Competing Languages		2.2.7 When not to use PHP >>
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Want to see this stuff in print? PHP in a Nutshell takes the core topics covered here, adds in thousands of edits from the editorial team and myself, and combines them to make an unbeatable reference for PHP programmers at all levels.

My latest book has hundreds more tips on how to use PHP, Apache, and MySQL, plus Perl, Python, shell scripts, performance tuning, and more!

ssandrew@hotmail.com - 29 Aug 2008

Hi Paul,

reading your ebook (up to this point) has been my greatest joy in trying to learn PHP. Your writing is simple, clear and fair-minded.

Two things I would like to draw to your attention :

1. I was directed to your website from PHPbuilder.com ... I think there's a mistake when they called you Paul Graham.

2. This sentence needs to be edited :

ColdFusion used to be quite popular back in the hey-days of the dot.com boom because it is developed using a proprietary IDE designed for novice programmers who have no wish to see source code of any complexity.

I think you meant to say :

ColdFusion used to be quite popular back in the hey-days of the dot.com boom because it enabled novice programmers (or those who have no wish to see source code of any complexity) to develop systems using a proprietary IDE.

Best Rgds,
andrew

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