PHP (and other Webprogramlanguages) v.s. WYSIWYG

[meanrat]

Dear people

Searching for the right topic, I could place this topic in "Other Languages", but this one is about other languages versus PHP. And I was looking for a topic that is read by enough people, so a discussion can take place.

I keep hearing about database application programs who can also make webpages in a short ammount of time. The first program I heard about is Alpha Five, but that one is too amateuristic and uses the classical database DBF ::). But then there is Windev (www.windev.com). I have never used this program, but I heard that this one is good. You can make PHP webpages 10 times faster then when you hard program in text-editors. Maybe Windev isn't good either, but the existence of these kinds of programs makes you wonder when nobody never ever needs PHP programmers anymore (or ASP.NET or Perl).

So do you think PHP and other web-programming languages are gone within a short amount of time (in about 10 years maybe), or will it always be better to hard-program, than to WYSIWYG your webpages and database applications?

I'm interested in your reactions!

Cheers,
Maarten

[trq]

Your kidding aren't you? These things are limited by the programs themselves. As a PHP programmer you are only limited by the language and your imagination. Your still going to need a programmer to customize most of the cr*p these things spit out.

There are no shortcuts in web developement or any programming for that matter. If you don't know what your doing and are not willing to learn, don't bother its that simple.

[wildteen88]

Programmers that use WYSIWYG programs are lazy programmers in my books and depending on...  lets say the 'intelligence' (dont know what other word to describe it) behind the WYSIWYG editors as they tend to churn out tones of unneeded code and the code is all messy. Take DW for example use the built in PHP tools and it puts in a lot of unneeded code, especially when it comes to databases! And I agree with thopre's statement if you cant be bothered to learn then don't even bother!

WYSWYG editors are OK for doing basic level (web) programming like HTML (and CSS). But not for advanced languages like PHP programming.The only time I use a WYSIWYG editor is when getting the real basics of a layout together quickly.

[boo_lolly]

if you want to use a file editor that does NOT hold you back, use vim. check my signature at the bottom. in my opinion (and many experienced programmers agree) vim is the be and and end all of file editors.