Comments on: IBM backs open-source Web software

Looking to widen its developer audience, IBM signs a partnership with Zend to bolster use of the PHP scripting language.

simpler tasks, Yeah Right

PHP can do anything java can but better. I used to be a java programmer. Not anymore. PHP have the perfect balance of object orientation and function like easy of use. Java designers when to far designing object for everything.

You should have written, PHP makes complex task, easier. That's a better statement.

At work we orchestrate a huge number of task and schedules and processes , all using PHP. And it just work.

[Bill Dautrive]

Not 100% accurate

Java is not 100% objects. It has static classes and primitive types. I know java way better then php, but I seriously doubt php can do everything java can. Java can do everything C++ can do, usually slower, but far prettier, syntatically. Can php do everything C++ can? Maybe it can, like I said, I don't know php that well.

[System Tyrant]

I would like to see...

more support of object pascal. It is unfortanate that Object Pascal is falling behind (excluding delphi). Object pascal is one of the best laid out programming languages I have ever seen. Unfortunatly it is sorley lacking in many areas due to lack of support.

I have been learning Java, PHP, perl, C++, C#, JavaScript, and Visual Basic over the years and none of them compare to Pascal. Even so I think that a lot could be done to create a far better programming languages.

"compiled language like java or C"

Since when is java a compiled language like C? I would hardly consider "compiling" it into java bytecode true compilation.

[Bill Dautrive]

It is not true compilation

But it isn't a interpreted language either. Its functionality and design is far closer to real languages, then it is to scripting languages. Java compilation is a hybrid process, but calling it a compiled language, especially on this site isn't that far wrong. Most people who frequent this site aren't computer scientists, or even programmers. Mainly people who learn how to use and configure a program and thinks that makes them computer pros. If this article came from Dr. Dobbs Journal or some such publication, then it would deserve scorn.

You can compile java code into machine code but it is unsupported and can be flaky.

[hipparchus2001]

various errors in posts here

(1) Java does not have to be slower than C++. Java is a language... choose a different runtime implementation. eg: Excelsior Jet for Windows, or GCJ: this is GNU C++, with a slightly varied set of C++ semantics, and compiles up a java program into an ELF binary for execution on Linux and so on. In my tests the ELF produced runs (unsurprisingly) at the same speed as compiled C++.
Note **you do not need Java bytecode at all to compile and run Java**.
My perception is that Java bytecode GUI stuff runs faster on OSX, Linux and Solaris than on Windows. Maybe a "fit" issue, or by design by MS.

(2) Pascal is just horrible in my opinion. AFAIK hardly anyone uses it.

(3) PHP is great, Java is great. PHP is pretty well limited to web apps as far as I can tell. For my money, I'd always use Java Taglibraries if I was going to do web stuff in Java.

But I think as a web language, PHP is superb. The biggest evidence of this to me has been my two websites' hosting packages Cpanel and Fantastico installer, plus chatrooms, discussions, webshops, are all written in PHP.
And there are so many other PHP programs out there: Groupware, entire business automation packages. Often these programs are very simple,and Free (GPL Free).
The evidence is what these things do.
In my web surfing, I've seen a near total move to PHP, with the following technologies only being seen on unusual websites:
Java, Lotus Domino, ASP.

I'm not being partisan here (I used to program Domino a lot). ASP is not only implemented by Microsoft, there is a free version for linux, but I haven't seen it in a long time.
I think more folks should try to implement in GCJ instead of C++ for rich client GUI apps, and console programs.
But every time, at the moment, I'd be looking at PHP for a webapp.

[Bill Dautrive]

True

I know that Java isn't always slower then C++, but the fact that you can not directly access low level hardware instructions and that there is always an extra layer between your java program and your hardware(JRE) makes it generally slower.

They have really optimized java, so speed isn't as nearly as huge of an issue as it once was. Just like C++ can be as fast as well written assembler, java can be as fast as C++. But it isn't a false statement to say that assembly is faster then C++, neither is it for java vs C++.

I really like the syntax of java, it is way more cleaner then the syntax swamp that is C++, although the new generics crap muddied up the waters a bit for such small gains. If only, java could be compiled into machine code by design, I think it would have taken much from C and C++. If you need it, C and C++ can be just as platform independent as Java.

PHP WebDevelopment

PHP is coming up like any thing.
Easy to learn. Language features are like c and java.
OPPs looks like Java. No need to worry about the data types if speaks in technical terms.

Full fills all the requriments of a web application. Even we can use with GTK which increases the usability of the PHP.

It is like one has to use in his web applications.

[Ubber geek]

PHP is coming up

http://www.analogstereo.com/peugeot_407_owners_manual.htm