[WEB4LIB] Re: Creating local content for web

[Caleb Tucker-Raymond]

On Wed, 23 May 2001, Richard L. Goerwitz III wrote:

> The only caution here is that MySQL-specific functions are just that:
> MySQL-specific. 

Isn't any database package going to need functions that are specific? I
don't see any disadvantage.

If you really don't want to learn programming, and depending on how cheap
is cheap, go for Filemaker.

At any rate, I'm into MySQL and PHP. They are widely used in generating
dynamic content and the community is out there to answer your questions.
They are also widely documented (see mysql.com and php.net).

If you're just starting out, and if you're not generating dynamic content
right away, I feel like PERL is a better choice.

First of all, the PERL community is way larger than the PHP community.

PERL is available for your PC (ActivePerl), Mac (MacPerl), various
Linux/Unix servers, and anything else you can think of.

In terms of starting out with generating static pages from dynamic content
and then moving towards generating dynamic pages, you can start everything
on your PC and later move your scripts to the server (and maybe use
EmbPerl as Richard suggests) without too much editing.

What I really like about PERL, and took for granted when I started working
with PHP, is that you can run it from the command line. With PHP (and
someone tell me how if I'm wrong about this), you have to do all your
testing with your browser.

If you go with PERL, get a book or two or three (or check them out of your
library). Don't rely on the man pages unless you read them start to finish
first and understand everything.

Caleb T-R
Electronic Systems Librarian
St Marys College of Ca.