Thread: PHP 5.0 final release it out!

PHP 5.0 final release it out, check it out:

http://www.php.net

Most excellent.

Corey Milner
Creative Director, Indigo Rose Software

This looks promising as well. Any of you guys use this? Drawbacks/feedback?

XAMPP

Guess not.

Yep,

Never used it.

Hmm, I really thought someone here would have messed with this...

Well, I took the plunge anyway and installed this app (totally free of course) and it's a nice solution for those of you creating php and/or MySQL applications in AMS and don't want to rely on a web server 'somewhere out there' to test. It has php 5.0 incorporated, but you can easily drop back to an earlier version (4.3.8) with a click of a button. And all this is done from your local hard drive/partition. It was so simple to install and run, it blew me away. I've been working on a few php projects and I was pretty tired of ftp'ing these files to my server to test.

It emulates an Apache server and has a MySQL database configured, PERL, HTTPS (SSL), CGI, SSI, and much more, including plenty of samples to play with. And all this is totally configured 'out of the box'.
Eh, thought it was a pretty good find and passed it along is all.

Ron,
Sounds cool! How big of a footprint does it have?

I read up a little and it leaves NO registry entries/system files whatsoever - nothing, and it's about a 55MB install. To remove it, you simply delete the directory. I thought that was a nice feature as well. I put it on my F: drive and it runs without a hitch.

rhosk,

I downloaded it and tried it out today (XAMPP). Wow, what a great utility! If there are AMS50 developers out there who want to experiment with PHP/MySQL interaction with AMS50, this is a must-have. It allows you to experiment all you want without messing up a real Web server. Get this application and Traing CD # 3 and you will be making interactive Web applications in AMS50 a lot quicker.

PHP 5.0 seriously rocks. And now, since it has built in SQLite (I understand) you can port your AMS databases to your web site. Phweee!!! In fact *I'm so excited*, I could quote a point sisters' song.

Corey Milner
Creative Director, Indigo Rose Software

Originally Posted by Corey

PHP 5.0 seriously rocks. And now, since it has built in SQLite (I understand) you can port your AMS databases to your web site. Phweee!!! In fact *I'm so excited*, I could quote a point sisters' song.

Obviously you "just can't hide it".

rhosk, thank you for pointing this application out. I like that I can just setup such on my secondary hardive and test away!

Originally Posted by Brett

rhosk,

I downloaded it and tried it out today (XAMPP). Wow, what a great utility! If there are AMS50 developers out there who want to experiment with PHP/MySQL interaction with AMS50, this is a must-have. It allows you to experiment all you want without messing up a real Web server. Get this application and Traing CD # 3 and you will be making interactive Web applications in AMS50 a lot quicker.

'

Your recommendation was helpful in my decision to try this applicaton out. I hold your opinions/suggestions in high esteem.

Again, rhosk thank you for pointing this application out! It looks like it will be an excellent way to learn PHP!

Sincerely,

Obviously you "just can't hide it".

Indeed. It appears that I'm about to lose control but, as you might have already guessed, I think I like it.

Intrigued : If you have a basis in LUA or any other type of programming you will find PHP incredibly easy to learn. PHP is notoriously simple to get started with. There are several of us here with a basic command of PHP who would be happy to assist you anytime. I advise everyone to learn PHP, it will be one of the best moves you will ever make. Even if you don't take it to the advanced levels, PHP is incredibly powerful and usable. A tiny bit of PHP knowledge will allow you to create dynamic web sites, and once you can create dynamic web sites, the web is your oyster.

Corey Milner
Creative Director, Indigo Rose Software

Thank you Corey. I do see a time where I will be using PHP more often. There is just so much to learn with respects to AMS and other excellent applications which a user can use in concert with AMS. But, that gives us all some objectives for future goals with regards to AMS.

Sincerely,

Corey, what book do you recommend, for a beginner to PHP 5.x, to buy?

I just finished watching a few videos (from Speedy Training Vol. 3) in the PHP section and now I am warming up to PHP 5.x and want to test a few code snippets myself. Although you move through the code quite fast (CD time restraints, I fully understand), I do believe you when you say it is not that hard to use.

Thank you in advance,

Well, this book on C++ has changed my view of what a good book is. Seems like all the PHP books are a bit heady and often just make such a simple topic seem difficult. When I was learning, a long time ago, I used "CORE PHP" by Leon Atkinson, it's not bad, certainly better than many of it's rival books. So that's about the best I can reccomend, at the very least it covers everything and offers a handy guide to functions.

My guess is that you will very quickly "get it" with PHP though and will take on some momentum of your own using online resources, etc. so the book is probably just to get you started I imagine. Core PHP is pretty solid. But that being said you may as well wait until you see a book on PHP 5.0 rather than 4.0, should be soon.

At any rate I promise you will never regret learning PHP. It's the most useful web language I know of. Used in conjunction with Javascript or AMS, you have a complete round-trip client-to-server scripting solution. Plus, PHP and MySQL enjoy one of the most transparent relationships of any interpreter/database combo in existence, so you will have that behind you too.

Corey Milner
Creative Director, Indigo Rose Software