Easier web programming language: PERL or PHP?

[Marta]

Hi all!

I would to study a web programming language to create a script that, given
the following
input page (input.htm) where the user select the weight and volume of a
package to be shipped, returns the prices of various couriers ("yellow",
"blue" and "black").
Is Perl my best choice? or PHP? ASP is much more complicated?

~~~ input page input.htm:

<form method="GET" action="output.php" name="input">

SELECT THE VOLUME OF YOUR PACKAGE:

<input type="radio" name="volume" value="1"> from 0 to 1 m3
<input type="radio" name="volume" value="2"> from 1 to 2 m3
<input type="radio" name="volume" value="3"> from 2 to 3 m3

<br>SELECT THE WEIGHT OF YOUR PACKAGE:

<input type="radio" name="weight" value="100"> from 0 to 100 Kg
<input type="radio" name="weight" value="200"> from 100 to 200 Kg
<input type="radio" name="weight" value="300"> from 200 to 300 Kg

</form>

~~~ istructions to be integrated in the "output.php" script:

Courier "yellow" - for volume 1, 2 and 3:
if weight=100 then rate=600
if weight=200 then rate=900
if weight=300 then rate=1200

Courier "blue" - for volume 1 and 2:
if weight=100 then rate=400
if weight=200 then rate=700

Courier "black" - for volume 2 and 3:
if weight=100 then rate=800
if weight=200 then rate=1100
if weight=300 then rate=1500


~~~ sample request and result:

Example A) With the user input:
volume=2
weight=300

output.php must generate this result:
courier "yellow" = 1200
courier "black" = 1500


Example B) With the user input:
volume=1
weight=100

output.php must generate this result:
courier "yellow" = 600
courier "blue" = 400

 

[Jürgen Exner]

Is Perl my best choice? or PHP? ASP is much more complicated?

Is a Ford better then a Chevy? Or is a Mercedes more complicated?

Pick whatever you feel most comfortable with.
For a simple problem like you described above the programming language
really doesn't matter and chances are you will be most productive in
whatever language you feel most comfortable.

jue

 

[Tad McClellan]

[ newsgroups trimmed, I don't do the alt.* wasteland, only this wasteland ]

I would to study a web programming language

Then you are in the wrong place because Perl (not PERL) is
not a web programming language (but PHP is).

Perl is a general purpose programming language, it works great
for web stuff and for lots of other stuff as well.

PHP works great for web stuff.

Is Perl my best choice?

Yes, if you ask in a Perl newsgroup.

or PHP?

Yes, if you ask in a PHP newsgroup.

ASP is much more complicated?

Proprietary stuff sucks big ones.

 

[Alan Mead]

I would to study a web programming language to create a script that,
given

Perl would be the best choice here because it was designed with postage
and packaging in mind. (That's what the 'P' in Perl stands for).

Here are a couple websites to get you started:

http://stein.cshl.org/WWW/software/CGI/
http://stein.cshl.org/WWW/software/CGI/examples/

Lincoln Stein (CGI.pm author) has an easy-to-read book and I recommend it
highly. The book discusses the examples from the second link.

-Alan

 

[Michele Dondi]

Perl would be the best choice here because it was designed with postage
and packaging in mind. (That's what the 'P' in Perl stands for).

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

Huh?!? Where did you hear that?


Michele

 

[Alan J. Flavell]

[ newsgroups trimmed, I don't do the alt.* wasteland, only this
wasteland ]
giggle

ASP is much more complicated?

Proprietary stuff sucks big ones.

No dispute on that. But I would suggest that you missed an important
issue here. ASP isn't a programming language (not even a web
programming language, whatever that might be exactly). It's more in
the nature of an interface specification. The programming language to
which it interfaces might often be VB, but it doesn't have to be.

So, in terms of its nature, ASP should be compared with CGI, or
with the Apache API, not with a programming language.

Perhaps one could mention http://www.apache-asp.org/ - without
however, particularly recommending it to someone who's not yet
in a position to make an informed choice.

 

[Alan J. Flavell]

Perl would be the best choice here because it was designed with postage
and packaging in mind. (That's what the 'P' in Perl stands for).

Whose leg are you pulling?

 

[Clyde Ingram]

Alan,

Perl would be the best choice here because it was designed with postage
and packaging in mind. (That's what the 'P' in Perl stands for).

You must be mistaken: Perl has only one "P", so offers either Postage or
Packaging, but not both.
In this respect, Perl, regrettably, offer no more and no less than than ASP.

It is well known that, PHP, with two "P"s, offers both Postage and
Packaging.

By the same token, C offers delivery by Courier, Java suffers from Junk
mail, and VBS provides a Very Bad Service all round.

Here are a couple websites to get you started:

http://stein.cshl.org/WWW/software/CGI/
http://stein.cshl.org/WWW/software/CGI/examples/

Lincoln Stein (CGI.pm author) has an easy-to-read book and I recommend it
highly. The book discusses the examples from the second link.

Agreed. A brilliant book by a great writer, but rather overdue a reprint.
Fortunately, the first web page you quote, at "Version 3.05, 04/12/2004, L.
Stein", goes a long way to updating the book.

Regards,
Clyde

 

[Alan Mead]

You must be mistaken: Perl has only one "P", so offers either Postage or
Packaging, but not both.
In this respect, Perl, regrettably, offer no more and no less than than ASP.

It is well known that, PHP, with two "P"s, offers both Postage and
Packaging.

I stand corrected

-Alan

 

[T. Jansma]

Perl would be the best choice here because it was designed with postage
and packaging in mind. (That's what the 'P' in Perl stands for).

Oh, haha, no, crazy coot... PHP is best suited for this, PHP stands
for:
Package Handling & Pricing

Imagine that, a whole programming language designed exactly for this
problem, wow!

CU!
Tim.

 

[Jim Michaels]

I know this is a PERL group, but having worked with PERL and PHP, I've
chosen to work with PHP for web apps.
the syntax & basic functions are similar to C/JavaScript. It has PERL's
regexps. It's far from a toy language. It has objects too.
Forms variables are broken down into $_GET['name'], $_POST['name'] or
$_REQUEST['name'] and there are $_SERVER[] variables.
database access is comparably simple. (and with PHP, well integrated) for
instance, a MySQL database would look like
<?php
$link=mysql_connect("server", "username", "password");
mysql_select_db("database", $link);
//from here on, you can use the same shared database connection ($link) for
the rest of your queries.
$q=mysql_query("SELECT fruit_id,fruit FROM fruits ORDER BY fruit", $link);
echo "<select name=selectbox size=1>";
$count=0;
while ($row=mysql_fetch_array($q)) {
if (0==$count) { //make sure first item is selected
$selected="selected";
} else {
$selected="";
}
echo "<option $selected value=\"$row[fruit_id]\">$row[fruit]</option>";
$count++;
}
echo "</select>\n";

//or it can be as simple as
$q2=mysql_query("SELECT fruit_id,fruit FROM fruits ORDER BY fruit", $link);
echo "<select name=selectbox size=1>";
while ($row=mysql_fetch_array($q2)) {
echo "<option value=\"$row[fruit_id]\">$row[fruit]</option>";
}
echo "</select>\n";
?>

I didn't have to make this example look as complicated as I did, but the
first one is more useful.
The first 2 lines are often stuck into an inc.php file (include 'inc.php'
and used wherever a database connection is needed, along with any
database-related or personal library functions like conversion stuff and
functions to pull variables out of databases for configuration purposes.
string manipulation is relatively easy, and there's a good library in place.
It has the GD graphics library so you can resize and manipulate JPEGS and
GIFS or create them.
many of the things you have to install into PERL come installed by default
into PHP.
Installing new things into PHP is NOT as easy as installing a PERL package
with ppm(PERL package manager) though. Few need to.
PERL is arguably more terse when it comes to manipulation of text. and more
powerful.
PERL has Email::Valid package to validate email addresses. there is a less
powerful PHP codebase for email validation out there.
PERL has packages organized into one place (CPAN). PHP code is scattered in
repositories throughout the globe and you have to dig to find things.

ASP is for people who like BASIC (simple, not very powerful) and working
with ADO and installing/working with ActiveX controls on the server. You
also end up working with URL variables a lot (GET). There are fewer ASP
servers (and they cost more than PHP/MySQL). But if you are looking for a
job, learn ASP.NET! Corporate america wants it!

As for ColdFusion, those servers are very expensive and few in number. Once
in a while I see a job that uses ColdFusion. But I haven't seen a job
except once that uses PHP. (why?) ColdFusion has a script language, but
mostly it's for people who have a hard time with programming lanugages but
understand tags. Think of it as tags that do things on the server but are
not seen by the browser. Its scripting language also similar to BASIC.
<CFIF rags=1> <CFELSE> </CFIF> if I remember right is one example, another
is <CFLOOP> </CFLOOP> but it's been a long time.

As for your PHP code request, I think it would look like this (I suggest you
have one of your radio buttons SELECTED):
(Your form will not work without a submit button. so I added one.)
<?php
if (isset($_GET['volume']) && isset($_GET['weight'])) { //if both have
something selected... process the form.
//Courier "yellow" - for volume 1, 2 and 3:
if ($_GET['weight']===100) { echo "courier &quot;yellow&quot;
rate=600<br>\n"; }
if ($_GET['weight']===200) { echo "courier &quot;yellow&quot;
rate=900<br>\n"; }
if ($_GET['weight']===300) { echo "courier &quot;yellow&quot;
rate=1200<br>\n"; }

//Courier "blue" - for volume 1 and 2:
if ($_GET['volume']===1 || $_GET['volume']===2) {
if ($_GET['weight']===100) { echo "courier &quot;blue&quot;
rate=400<br>\n"; }
if ($_GET['weight']===200) { echo "courier &quot;blue&quot;
rate=700<br>\n"; }
}

//Courier "black" - for volume 2 and 3:
if ($_GET['volume']===2 || $_GET['volume']===3) {
if ($_GET['weight']===100) { echo "courier &quot;black&quot;
rate=800<br>\n"; }
if ($_GET['weight']===200) { echo "courier &quot;black&quot;
rate=1100<br>\n"; }
if ($_GET['weight']===300) { echo "courier &quot;black&quot;
rate=1500<br>\n"; }
}
} else { //display form. possibly not all radio buttons were selected.
//(break out of php and output plain HTML for a while.)
?>
<form method="GET" action="output.php" name="input">
SELECT THE VOLUME OF YOUR PACKAGE:<br>
<input type="radio" name="volume" value="1"> from 0 to 1 m3<br>
<input type="radio" name="volume" value="2"> from 1 to 2 m3<br>
<input type="radio" name="volume" value="3"> from 2 to 3 m3<br>
<br>SELECT THE WEIGHT OF YOUR PACKAGE:<br>
<input type="radio" name="weight" value="100"> from 0 to 100 Kg<br>
<input type="radio" name="weight" value="200"> from 100 to 200 Kg<br>
<input type="radio" name="weight" value="300"> from 200 to 300 Kg<br>
<input type=submit>
</form>
<?php //(continue where we left off)
}
?>

// starts a line comment. so does PERL's #
\n is a line break which is ignored by HTML but useful for viewing source.
\" in a double-quoted string simply comes out as a " character. echo and
print both send strings as output to the browser. I could have shortened my
typing and did a $wt=$_GET['weight']; and used $wt everywhere, same with the
volume. I don't think I have to put quotes around the numbers - if I
remember right, PHP converts numbers in strings into numbers automatically.
if you are not sure, use the triple-equals (I did) instread of double-equals
for comparing.
If you want to take a look at PHP,

 

[Gunnar Hjalmarsson]

I know this is a PERL group, but having worked with PERL and PHP, I've
chosen to work with PHP for web apps.

Not a bad choice; thanks for letting us know. If you are happy, we are
happy.

 

[Tad McClellan]

I know this is a PERL group,

Then you know incorrectly.

This is a Perl group.

 

[Jim Michaels]

I stand corrected. it's been a while. I just looked at the official Perl
book's title. I used to write all my GUIs in Tcl/TK (still do), system
utilities in C++ and Perl. But I'm no longer maintaining a server.
Actually, I did write a GUI in Perl because it had Tk available (a bit more
cumbersome under Perl than Tcl).

If you do try Tk, I suggest having a Tcl/Tk book handy as a reference on the
widgets and how they work, as the documentation that comes with the Perl
module isn't sufficient. And you'll need lots of time experimenting if
you're using a newer widget like heirarchy (the name was something like
that).

 

[Paul Lalli]

If you do try Tk, I suggest having a Tcl/Tk book handy as a reference on the
widgets and how they work, as the documentation that comes with the Perl
module isn't sufficient.

Uhm. No. If you try to to *Tcl/Tk*, you should have a Tcl/Tk book
handy. If you try to do *Perl/Tk*, you should have a *Perl/Tk* book
handy.

http://www.oreilly.com/catalog/mastperltk/

If you're programming in C, do you want a C book or a C++ book? Why
would you want a book for a language that's only tangentally related to
the language you're using?

Paul Lalli