Among computer programming languages, there is no single application that does all the different things, in all the different ways, that programmers need. Because of the great number and diversity of programming tasks, choosing a web application programming language has become a critically important step.

Fortunately, there is continuing development in the field, and today the number of capable applications is expanding. Database-driven websites can now be built with such varied scripting languages as PHP, ASP.NET, JSP, Perl and Cold Fusion, which fall into two main groups – proprietary and open-source. In the foregoing examples, all are open-source except the proprietary Cold Fusion and ASP.NET.

PHP pros and cons

As an open-source application, PHP was developed (and continues to be developed) by an active, engaged, international community of users. This is a great example of strength in numbers. Another strength of PHP, of course, is cost. It’s free.

Because it is free, open-source software, PHP can be compiled and “tweaked” for most any operating system. In fact, there are even pre-compiled versions available for the majority of operating systems, both commercial and freeware.

You can also relax a bit more with PHP, as you can count on its being updated and improved more often than other languages. In an open, collaborative and non-hierarchical environment, suggested improvements can be adopted quickly. Again, this is a strength that is derived from its open-source status.

PHP is a mature application, though younger than Perl, for instance. However, it does have a few weaknesses that may be minor annoyances to some, but deal-killers for other programmers. Its lack of event-based error handling means that your workflow may be interrupted by a sudden jump to a special error-handling section. Finally, its lack of case sensitivity for its function names will run afoul of many professionals’ long-established work habits.

ASP.NET = flexibility

ASP.NET is arguably the most flexible of the programming tools, and “plays nice” with both scripted languages (VBScript, Jscript, Perlscript, Python) and compiled ones (VB, C, Cobol, Smalltalk, Lisp). This flexibility is also apparent in the application’s compatibility with such development environments as WebMatrix, VisualStudio.NET and Borland’s Delphi and C++ Builder.

On the downside, ASP.NET is a memory hog and somewhat slower to execute than its competitors. For this kind of application, that can be a serious weakness – on the Internet, it may be called upon to scale to thousands of users per second. Its memory usage can easily become problematic on your server.

JSP (Java Server Pages)

JSP is an open-source scripting language supported by Oracle, so developers can use Oracle JDeveloper to create JSP pages. This can be accomplished without having to learn the Java language first, relieving you of the task of writing Java scriptlets. It is also extensible, allowing Java tag library developers to outfit it with simple tag handlers that use a new, simpler, cleaner tag extension Application Programming Interface (API).

JSP has integrated the JavaServer Pages Standard Tag Library (JSTL) expression language, and it now supports functions. This greatly eases the creation and maintenance of JSP pages.

The most significant disadvantage of JSP is that there is no XML-compliant version of JSP comments, forcing developers to use client-side, HTML/XML-style comments (or embed Java comments). Depending, once again, on your particular needs, this may or may not be sufficient reason to eschew the use of JSP.

A shiny Perl

An open-source language that is both mature and powerful, Perl offers web developers about every tool they need to create dynamic web pages. Like other open-source languages, it benefits tremendously from ongoing development, and the support offered by its international community of users is second to none.

Perl is particularly good for creating single websites quickly, cleanly and elegantly. If it has a major identifiable weakness, it is that it may be unnecessarily complicated. If you are not comfortable switching gears among a variety of syntaxes, it may not be the best tool for you.

The real ColdFusion

Originally built by Allaire and then purchased by Macromedia, ColdFusion is now owned by Adobe. It is very easy to get started building websites with it, and you can deploy powerful web applications and services with less training – and in less time, using fewer lines of code – than with PHP and JSP.

ColdFusion is now at version 8, although many programmers are still using the various iterations of ColdFusion MX, variously known as ColdFusion MX 6, ColdFusion MX 6.1, ColdFusion MX 7, ColdFusion MX 7.0.1, ColdFusion MX 7.0.2, ColdFusion 7, ColdFusion 7.0.1 and ColdFusion 7.0.2. However, ColdFusion MX to ColdFusion 8 is a valid upgrade path. In fact, upgrading to ColdFusion 8 is supported for the two most recent previous major releases of the program.

ColdFusion supports most major databases, from Oracle and Sybase to Microsoft SQL Server and Access. With its own markup language (CFML) and tags to connect to the database, it is relatively easy to create forms and dynamic pages. It also has all the benefits of CGI for today’s broadbased developers. Its weaknesses are few, but expert users will caution that it is probably the most difficult to maintain.

Bottom line

Secure and scalable web applications are important to every business with an Internet presence (which is every business today, isn’t it?) and can directly affect productivity, sales, reputation and profits. If you want to develop a web application and do not have the expertise in-house, any number of reputable web development firms can help you determine the right tools for your task.

Whether your application development happens in-house or with outside assistance, it is important that management understands the basics. You don’t have to become a programmer, of course, but to make good business decisions you do need to know what these powerful tools are all about. As long as you learn enough to help make the appropriate decision, you can leave the actual coding and compiling to the experts.

Gary Klingsheim
http://www.articlesbase.com/web-design-articles/choosing-a-web-application-programming-language-686952.html

PHP Hypertext Processor is a server-side web programming language that can be embedded into HTML. PHP uses are widespread, and can include any kind of server functionality that takes user’s input and displays or manipulates the input. PHP can run on both UNIX and Windows servers, which makes it more accessible than Windows (ASP). This scripting language is growing day by day. PHP5 a fully object oriented language and its platform independence and speed on Linux server helps to build large and complex web applications.
PHP is a particularly useful programming language because it allows for advanced programming and is easy to integrate with web pages. Another plus of PHP is that the language interfaces very well with MySQL, a popular type of online database. MYSQL is a commercial grade database application that is made available free under the Open Source to anyone. Another plus of PHP is that it is Open Source Code. The actual code that is PHP is available to the public for free, while the source code for products such as ASP is not. So PHP is very cheap. Because PHP is open source, there is a large community of PHP programmers that help each other with code. This means PHP programmers can rely on each other by using reusable pieces of code called functions and classes rather than constantly reinventing the wheel. This can dramatically cut down on production time.
PHP is based on C++ language and the syntax used in PHP is quite similar to C/C++. C/C++ is still considered the best programming language by many programmers and people who love this language would surely feel more comfortable with the syntax of PHP.
PHP and MySQL are excellent choice for webmasters looking to automate their web sites. Now search spiders “see” all the content on a PHP page, the same way it is viewed in a browser. The creation of a php-shopping cart is surprisingly simple and when done with precision it could translate into a highly effective and universally accepted php-shopping cart.

Nasir Mehmood
http://www.articlesbase.com/programming-articles/advantages-of-php-development-71741.html

You have discovered that article publishing scripts are an excellent way to get top search engine rankings and traffic which you can direct to your other sites, but you just don’t know which article script to get. If you are like me, you just do not have the time to try every article directory software title available, so I will list my experience with the most common scripts here in the hopes I can save you some time and money.

Our goals here are to find the least expensive article directory script that has the most features, ease of use for you and your visitors and the best support given after your purchase.

First, let’s eliminate the very expensive scripts. The rule of thumb for any kind of sales is to buy low, sell high and you will have to make a lot of money on the net to make up for spending several hundred dollars for any site! You also have to keep in mind that you may not want the standard version of the script you just bought, so unless you are experienced in PHP, MySQL programming or design, you will probably be spending MORE money.

Next, we can eliminate from our list of scripts any that are encrypted. This means any scripts where the code cannot be changed by you or read by you or anyone else. The reason for this is that you are stuck with every bug (no matter how small) until the developers fix them, and from my experience, this is rare. for more detail go to:www.effective-contents.com.Also, as your site grows, you may wish to add JavaScript, PHP or other options to your site, and with encoded scripts, this is usually not possible. At least it’s not easy, and can be very time consuming (even if you are a PHP expert), and we all know that time is money!

Generally, these scripts should be avoided if at all possible. The biggest reasons are that you will probably get no support from the developers, so you will have to search through ton’s of the script users posts (if the script has a support forum) to try an find a solution for problems. You will also probably be stuck with a link back to the developer’s site, which basically boils down to your site being part of a link farm. Bad, very bad! To top things off, free scripts of any kind are available to anyone to analyze. This means hackers. One free script (I will not mention its name here, but it is a popular free script) proudly proclaims itself the most hacked script on the Internet! Another has had the same bugs infesting it for years now, for more detail go to: www.article-writing-secret.com. and still no sign of updates. This is a bad sign folks, so free is not good for you and your goals to make money on the Internet. Especially if the free script has broken features (such as email) that will not allow your site to reach it’s full potential. Now, I’m not knocking open source… just making you aware of some of the pitfalls you may have to deal with later on.

Would you buy a car if all you could do is look at the outside of it? Of course not! The same goes for scripts. If you can not see the front side AND the admin side, move onto another article script. If you are able to see the admin section of the script, look at its options carefully. Try to determine how automated the script will be for you as the administrator. If there are few options for article admin or author admin or you have to choose the articles that appear on your front page, you will be spending ALOT of time with admin duties. Your best option is to choose an article publishing script with the most back end options for the least money!

ANOOP SINGH LUTHRA
http://www.articlesbase.com/internet-marketing-articles/the-right-php-article-directory-script-722710.html

Making millions online is something that we can all do, honest. All we need to do is learn the tricks of the trade, for example niche marketing and the power of PHP scripts online. Using niche websites to make the big bucks is the fastest way to do it not to mention the most fun.

A niche website can be anything from gall bladder disease or a special kind of car or even a single car part. Try to think of things that you have always wanted to know about but have had trouble finding info on. The more niche you go the better your chances of succeeding because the competition is nil.

Writing for niche websites is easy. You can use all kinds of sources for information. You can check out the library in your area to get some free resources or you can use the internet. The competition may not be very much but it is still there and by seeing what they have you can learn what to change or make better for your own. You can see what the weaknesses are of those sites and make sure you avoid them completely. This is a great way to make sure that you are always at the top of the heap.

Niche sites can be a lot of fun to work with. The topics can be pretty out there, you can go with something like senior dating or something as simple as how to find good car parts. Then add some Google adwords or sell and ebook or two and you are set. You will be raking in the dough all day long all week long!

The next step to making your niche website a good one is to get some good PHP scripts. These can be found online without any trouble at all, and even more important without having to pay an arm and a leg.

If you have ever had to pay a programmer to write a script for you then you know the hundreds or even thousands of dollars it can run you, it is painful! That is why getting a good PHP script package online is such a great idea.

This makes everything simple and straightforward. These packages come with all the things you need to make your niche marketing website a great one. You can find payment processors, email PHP scripts and everything else that you need to make your site one for the record books.

Niche marketing websites are the way of the future and if you want to make money fast and easy then it is high time you check them out for yourself.

Talia Phillips
http://www.articlesbase.com/internet-articles/using-niche-marketing-and-php-scripts-to-make-your-millions-82927.html

Exception Handling is a programming language construct intended to handle a condition’s occurrence that alters or changes the normal flow of execution. Exceptions are very significant and have a good control over error handling.

In the process of development of software, any exception handling verification must be conducted in a highly automated manner. The test cases must be created in a scientific way. There are various systems available commercially. These systems perform testing in a scientific and repeatable manner. Systems like Service Assurance platform from MU Dynamic can easily verify exception handling for implementation of software codes.

There are various programming languages including C++, Actionscript, .Net languages, JAVA, Ada, Python, Prolog, Ruby, Visual Prolog, Objective C, Ocaml and ECMAscript and Eiffel that have built-in support for exception handling. PHP (version 5) also boasts an exception model just like other programming languages. The exception model in PHP follows some important statement keywords. These keywords are: Try, Throw and Catch. Let us see what the keywords mean:

Try: Most functions using an exception must be surrounded in a try block of statement. The code will normally continue if the exception does not trigger. If it is triggered, an exception is thrown.

Throw: A triggered exception is thrown. It is important to know that each throw must have a “catch”.

Catch: A “catch” block of statement recovers an exception and builds an object containing the information of the exception.

A “thrown” exception means that the code following the statement is unexecuted. This compels PHP to find the first matching catch block. If the catch block fails to “catch” the exception, a PHP fatal error is issued and is stated as “Uncaught Exception”

These rules and keywords are very important for web & software development companies that specialize in the development of software. Most modern software applications have to face design challenges in case of exception handling strategies. Web & software development companies design a solid exception handling strategy to recognize a failed process to the point when it cannot be handled by the software portion economically.

Anirban Bhattacharya
http://www.articlesbase.com/web-design-articles/importance-of-exception-handling-in-php-743498.html