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Starter..why PHP and not .NET

Posted: Thu Dec 15, 2005 8:45 am
by petersmith
Im currently programming in ASP.NET, but am very interested in the possibilities of programming in PHP.
APART FROM THE COSTS OF MS products I'd like to know why to choose php.
My first thought would be that PHP supports less functionality and has a longer development time...I could be totally wrong!
I think this because of the following reasons and perhaps someone can let me know how it works...

1. ASP.NET uses code-behind, which separates the HTML from the code...I have 2 files for a page: page.aspx and page.aspx.vb This is a really convenient and neat way to work...does php support this? (and how)

2. Visual Web Developer Express 2005 has a nice graphical interface with a code editor and html editor. I can drag and drop objects (like a textbox, dropdownlist or gridview) onto my page without writing a single line of code...which php editor supports this?

3. ASP.NET has built in support for authentication and authorization (forms authentication and role management). How does PHP support these?

Any help is really appreciated!

Thanks!

Posted: Thu Dec 15, 2005 8:55 am
by Chris Corbyn
I'd say that PHP development time is a lot faster... it's very easy to pick up and throw scripts together very quickly, and the documentation is brilliant.

PHP will work with just about *any* web server on *any* platform so it's far more portable.

PHP is open source and so has a large following of developers writing extensions and such like.

At the end of the day you can just try out development with the two and see which works better for you ;)

Re: Starter..why PHP and not .NET

Posted: Thu Dec 15, 2005 9:02 am
by onion2k
petersmith wrote:1. ASP.NET uses code-behind, which separates the HTML from the code...I have 2 files for a page: page.aspx and page.aspx.vb This is a really convenient and neat way to work...does php support this? (and how)
No. Though there are a number of frameworks and template systems available for seperating code and layout. Smarty is a popular one.
petersmith wrote:2. Visual Web Developer Express 2005 has a nice graphical interface with a code editor and html editor. I can drag and drop objects (like a textbox, dropdownlist or gridview) onto my page without writing a single line of code...which php editor supports this?
Dreamweaver? I don't know. I need to write standards compliant, cross browser, WAI accessible code .. I've never seen a wysiwyg editor that can do that without making a horrible mess.
petersmith wrote:3. ASP.NET has built in support for authentication and authorization (forms authentication and role management). How does PHP support these?
Again, PHP doesn't suppose those things natively, but there are a number of frameworks available that do (I think, if I understand what they are).

You sound like you're expecting to continue doing things the Microsoft way when you come over to PHP. That's not really possible. If I were you I'd stick with ASP.Net.