Research for class: Reasons to go with PHP or ASP.NET

[ct_racer]

I have to write a project proposal for a class of mine and for it I need to do some "primary research" which requires me to get actual responses from people regarding something.

I am proficient in PHP and am learning ASP.NET. I am looking for responses from professionals or those in the know about the advantages and disadvantages of each.

Again, this is only for a class paper, but I am hoping for some good discussion on the topic. I appreciate your time.

Thanks,
Court

[Force Flow]

PHP is fairly easy to pick up and understand, due to it's straight-forward approach. It's also free, with most of the development tools and server tools being free as well, which can be used on a wide range of platforms (windows, linux, OSX). There are a large number of support forums available, plus lots of frameworks to choose from and a considerable amount of libraries and code examples.

ASP.NET (either the C# or VB variants) have a bit of a learning curve. While there are some free development tools available, the good ones cost some money (which you can usually get at a good price if you're a current student somewhere). ASP.NET requires IIS, the most recent of which can only be found on the newest version of a Windows Server O/S. You can install versions of IIS on domain-capable end-user Windows O/Ses (such as XP Pro--not XP Home), but are locked into a certain version. Unlike PHP, ASP.NET seems to have a smaller community, but there are still plenty of resources available.

[logic_earth]

It will be impossible to state any solid advantages or disadvantages without knowing the environment it is going to be running in. Linux/Unix environment, Windows environment? In house development team? Or outsourced to some other company? What will the resulting application need to do? Will it be talking to some database backend? If so which database server will you be using?

[hash]

You're sort of comparing apples with oranges there. PHP is comparable to VB or C#. .net is comparable with symphony, or yii. asp simply means active server pages, which applies to any server side scripted page.

[ct_racer]

The system I am proposing is to keep track of inventory across the 7 warehouses of a made up logistics and freight company. It will also handle all shipping and receiving to and from said warehouses as well as handle shipment tracking for anything that is on the companies trucks. The warehouses are geographically spread across the north east and freight can be shipped between warehouses and within a range of each. Honestly, I am making this entire scenario up so it may be a little vague. If anyone wants more details I would be happy to make them up for you. I apologize for the delay in getting back to this forum a well; it has been a hectic week. Thank you to everyone that has posted so far. Everything would be run in house, likely at the corporate offices. In terms of running server software, the ASP stuff would be in a windows server environment where as if I went with PHP, I would probably run a linux/apache setup.

[lampcms.com]

Stop sending your cash to Bill Gates is reason enough, after all the frustration I encountered over the years of using Windows.

[logic_earth]

Stop sending your cash to Bill Gates is reason enough, after all the frustration I encountered over the years of using Windows.

Your frustration does not equal another frustration. But I will give you the benefit of the doubt if you can come up with a better reason.

I do not see the need for a web application unless it must also be available on the web. I would personally go with .NET in this case. I would write it as a low level application and then create individual interfaces to that application. The interfaces could be a Windows application, an ASP.NET Application for the web. But each one would be built on top of the same core. Leaving you maintain a single code base for both.

But that is just me. (And yes the same thing could be done in PHP, but complied code as a lot of advantages to it.)

[lampcms.com]

I like php because its not a compiled code, otherwise I would go with java.
Really, there is nothing that asp can do that cannot be done with php, especially with the most recent version of php.

[logic_earth]

When you say ASP do you mean ASP Classic or ASP.NET which is really written in C# and/or VB? You will find that PHP is not all that capable compared to C#, not without huge headaches. And why is compiled code a bad thing? When dealing with high volume having it compiled gives a large boost to performance.

And I am a PHP developer for several years now. I know what it is capable of and what it is not capable of.

[ct_racer]

When you say ASP do you mean ASP Classic or ASP.NET which is really written in C# and/or VB? You will find that PHP is not all that capable compared to C#, not without huge headaches. And why is compiled code a bad thing? When dealing with high volume having it compiled gives a large boost to performance.

And I am a PHP developer for several years now. I know what it is capable of and what it is not capable of.

I do mean ASP.NET and I currently work with both that and PHP. Could you possibly give me some examples of how or where PHP is not as capable as C#?

[masud7827]

i love to use php

[wwb_99]

The system I am proposing is to keep track of inventory across the 7 warehouses of a made up logistics and freight company. It will also handle all shipping and receiving to and from said warehouses as well as handle shipment tracking for anything that is on the companies trucks. The warehouses are geographically spread across the north east and freight can be shipped between warehouses and within a range of each. Honestly, I am making this entire scenario up so it may be a little vague. If anyone wants more details I would be happy to make them up for you. I apologize for the delay in getting back to this forum a well; it has been a hectic week. Thank you to everyone that has posted so far. Everything would be run in house, likely at the corporate offices. In terms of running server software, the ASP stuff would be in a windows server environment where as if I went with PHP, I would probably run a linux/apache setup.

If you had to choose one stack, .NET (or java) would be about your only choice here. Mainly because you'd need something that could serve web pages just as well as run on a handheld barcode scanner.

That said, for something as enterprisey, you really need not choose one stack. You'll need some centralized processing stuff to manage everything, but you could support hetrogenius clients using the right sorts of RPC technology.

[felgall]

For someone who knows PHP and is looking at using a .NET environment PHP.NET is an obvious choice (unless there is one of the other languages that .NET supports that the person knows even better than they know PHP)..

[wwb_99]

I'd really argue that syntax (eg--using PHP in a .NET environment) is a red herring. You should be able to pick up new syntax with ease. The kicker is understanding the framework and how things work, which don't translate to PHP at all.

[felgall]

PHP runs on about three or four different frameworks and which it runs on generally doesn't make any difference to the PHP. You only really need to worry about the framework (.NET, CGI, etc) when configuring the server in the first place.

[Tanwa1234]

PHP i think php is absolutely free and widely 3rd party framework , plugin and library for free
and very easier than ASP.net (in my opinion) to use

[dhtmlgod]

Seriously, another discussion?

Let's tackle each incorrect comments...

While there are some free development tools available, the good ones cost some money (which you can usually get at a good price if you're a current student somewhere). ASP.NET requires IIS, the most recent of which can only be found on the newest version of a Windows Server O/S. You can install versions of IIS on domain-capable end-user Windows O/Ses (such as XP Pro--not XP Home), but are locked into a certain version. Unlike PHP, ASP.NET seems to have a smaller community, but there are still plenty of resources available.

Wrong. I travel 4 hours a day to and from work. I use a netbook with Ubuntu installed and MonoDevelop as my IDE and runs on Apache. There is also SharpDevelop, another free open source IDE. While Visual Studio Pro+ costs, there are a number of free "Express" editions that supply 90% of everything a small scale developer needs

Visual Studio, the full thing and the Web Express edition comes with a built-in webserver, so no need for IIS on XP.

PHP i think php is absolutely free and widely 3rd party framework , plugin and library for free
and very easier than ASP.net (in my opinion) to use

Checkout codeplex.com, and there are loads of 3rd party OSS on Google code and GitHub. I personally think using 3rd .NET assemblies are easier then PHP plugins. A lot the time a .Net tool/plugin is one file. Drop it in a folder, reference it, job done.

I've written more or less the exact system for a retailer a few years ago, and it was fairly simply with .Net. Being able to use the same language and tools across all platforms really helped get the project finsihed quickly by a very small team.

[anishk11]

PHP is the best !!

[wwb_99]

PHP runs on about three or four different frameworks and which it runs on generally doesn't make any difference to the PHP. You only really need to worry about the framework (.NET, CGI, etc) when configuring the server in the first place.

Not quite the sort of framework I was speaking of--rather the software end of the thing. For .NET that would cover stuff like the Base Class Library and ASP.NET. Far, far different pardigim from PHP in general.

Oh, and what dhtmlgod said.

[awasson]

The system I am proposing is to keep track of inventory across the 7 warehouses of a made up logistics and freight company. It will also handle all shipping and receiving to and from said warehouses as well as handle shipment tracking for anything that is on the companies trucks. The warehouses are geographically spread across the north east and freight can be shipped between warehouses and within a range of each. Honestly, I am making this entire scenario up so it may be a little vague. If anyone wants more details I would be happy to make them up for you. I apologize for the delay in getting back to this forum a well; it has been a hectic week. Thank you to everyone that has posted so far. Everything would be run in house, likely at the corporate offices. In terms of running server software, the ASP stuff would be in a windows server environment where as if I went with PHP, I would probably run a linux/apache setup.

I think logic_earth kinda said this already but I would create a desktop version of the software that would track inventory, shipping/receiving across multiple warehouses and then use web services to provide remote access via web browsers. You could write tha app using Python, Java, .NET, etc... and then connect to the web services in PHP but it probably makes more sense to build it entirely on the .NET framework and take advantage of all that's available.

I'm a big fan of PHP but I can see the need to move in this instance to .NET

[tommygreatboom]

For me. now I go with PHP.

[Jake Arkinstall]

Personally I'd use C++ for the desktop side of things and PHP for the web part of it, but that's not what you asked

Both have their advantages, really.

Sure, you can write a Desktop application and a Web application using the same language and base framework using .Net - but that doesn't necessarily give you an advantage. When it comes down to it, data is handled differently on the web and, as such, the differences between the web system and the desktop system would be large enough to consider handling the applications differently.

[bholli]

First, I fully agree with dhtmlgod.

Anyone who feels that learning asp.net is more difficult than learning php has not put forth the needed effort to learn asp.net. For a novice, there are many tools and controls available that reduce (and sometimes eliminate) the overall lines of code needed to do routine things. For an expert, the framework + c# provide you with total freedom.

Besides, VisualStudio and/or Visual Web Developer happen to be the best IDE's that any developer will experience today (in my opinion).

[wwb_99]

Sure, you can write a Desktop application and a Web application using the same language and base framework using .Net - but that doesn't necessarily give you an advantage. When it comes down to it, data is handled differently on the web and, as such, the differences between the web system and the desktop system would be large enough to consider handling the applications differently.

Nope. Data is data. Now, you might serialize and package it differently for web versus for desktop versus for back-end processing, but you are going to be using the same toys and tools to get it going. In general, it is just the top tier of the app that needs changing for different presentation environments.

[Jake Arkinstall]

Nope. Data is data. Now, you might serialize and package it differently for web versus for desktop versus for back-end processing, but you are going to be using the same toys and tools to get it going. In general, it is just the top tier of the app that needs changing for different presentation environments.

I see where you're coming from.

However, its not just how data is output. There's also where it comes from, how its accessed.

The web works via requests - single bursts of sending/requesting information. Desktop applications are more dynamic, multiple things can be happening at once, output can vary depending on the current application state and some data may be modified live whilst the rest is being edited.

A backbone that accepts both would be subject to inefficiencies.

At most you could keep the models and controllers - something which can be rewritten into a different language in very little time.