PHP & MySQL joint forum

[MargateSteve]

For the more naive people, like myself, a lot of questions will not only involve the MySQL backend of things but also, subsequently, the PHP frontend to get the data to display in the way we want it to.

This can lead to the same sort of question being asked in both forums.

How about a joint PHP & MySQL forum for questions like these? This would stopped replicated posts and also be easier for anyone searching for a similar solution in future.

 

Steve

[Mchl]

Also PHP-MSSQL, PHP-Postgres, PHP-Oracle, PHP-SQLite...

No... I can't really see it coming.

 

Just try to decide, if the issue is more on scripting side, or on database side. As a rule of thumb, if your question concerns PHP code, you should ask it in PHP section (even if there's also MySQL involved)

[ManiacDan]

Mchl us right, the MySQL query language stands on its own.  If you're having a problem with a piece of PHP code that contains a MySQL query, print the query to the screen, then copy and paste it into your query browser.  If the query is producing the wrong data, post in the MySQL forum.  If the query is right, post in the PHP forum.

 

-Dan

[fenway]

Let's not even entertain such an idea.

 

The whole purpose of the separation is to force the OP to decide exactly which aspect is causing the problem -- and this also helps people resist the urge to post entire scripts.

[ManiacDan]

Let's not even entertain such an idea.

 

The whole purpose of the separation is to force the OP to decide exactly which aspect is causing the problem -- and this also helps people resist the urge to post entire scripts.

The problem is that not enough new programmers understand that PHP and SQL are entirely different languages that have no knowledge or understanding of one another. 

 

Then they throw HTML into the mix...then JavaScript...then regexp, and before they know it they're trying to learn 5 languages simultaneously.  It's a wonder any of us ever got anything working at all.

 

-Dan

[fenway]

The real problem is that PHP is the worst possible language to start with to learn that separation, specifically because it's a glorified template.

[ManiacDan]

The real problem is that PHP is the worst possible language to start with to learn that separation, specifically because it's a glorified template.

Maybe true in 1996, but it's a fully fleshed out language now. 

 

It's also a great language to learn on, because it's loose enough to allow new users to make mistakes and still generate working products.  Unfortunately, its main benefit is also its main drawback, because those users never learn the "proper" way of doing things. 

[fenway]

I'll resist the temptation to argue -- but I agree that the problem is that it's too easy to learn.

[Pikachu2000]

It leads to the attitude of "so what if it's wrong, it works like that, doesn't it?" Case in point would be all the people I see using unquoted associative array indices and ignoring the "undefined constant" warnings in PHP.

[ManiacDan]

Fenway, I'd really like to know (non-maliciously) what you think PHP lacks.  I've heard a number of people say that PHP isn't a real language, none of them were able to back it up.  Is there some esoteric functionality of Perl or Python or C++ that would make PHP into a "real" language in your eyes?  Or is it just the fact that PHP started as a quick and dirty HTML looping engine and grew from there?

[fenway]

It's not that it lacks anything, per se -- just that the default mix on HTML and scripting blurs the line for new programmers, and then they never completely recover.

[Mchl]

One thing PHP lacks is a formal specification of the language. There only is a Zend's implementation, which must be taken as a point of reference by anyone who would like to create their own interpreter. Since this implementation in turns hasn't got a roadmap, or a set of goals to achieve, it's always a moving target.