PHP, MySQL and CMS

PHP, MySQL and Content Management Systems

PHP programming language. Works serverside

PHP is an interpreted programming language, originally designed to create dynamic web pages. Its main use is server-side scripting, but today it can also be used on a command line or alogn with graphic interface software using libraries such as Qt or GTK+.

It can be deployed on most web servers and operating systems without cost. PHP is already installed in more than 20 million websites and a million servers. Since august 2005, PHP has shared this preponderant place with other new but not so powerful languages. Sites that trust this language go from Wikipedia to Facebook. It is also the most popular Apache module. The latest version released is the 5.3.4 on December 10, 2010.

PHP is very similar with other common languages such as C and Perl. This allows most programmers to create very complex applications with a very short learning curve. It also allows to create dynamic content applications without the need of a whole new set of functions.

Although it is entirely oriented to develop websites easily. It is possible to create graphic interface applicationes using the PHP-Qt or the PHP-GTK extensions. It can also be used on a command line.

Through the use of extensions it is also possible to generate PDF and Flash files with images in different formats.

It allows connection to different types of database servers like MySQL, Postgres, Oracle, ODBC, DB2, Microsoft SQL Server, Firebird and SQLite.

PHP has also the hability to run on most operating systems like UNIX and Windows. It can interact with the most popular web servers since it has CGI, Apache snd ISAPI versions.

PHP is a very good alternative to Microsoft's ASP and ASP.NET or Adobe's ColdFusion or Oracle's JSP/Java and CGI/Perl technologies. Though its development resides in the free software development policy under GNU licensing, there is a licensed IDE called Zend Studio.

MySQL database manager. Safe and Robust

MySQL is a relational database manager. Multithread and multiuser, it has more than six millions of installations worldwide.

MySQL is widely used on web applications like Drupal or phpBB. In bug tracking platforms like Bugzilla. Its popularity among web apps is closely bound to PHP. MySQL is famous for its high data reading speed on low concurrence applications, making it ideal for this type of projects.

There are the free and the paid versions of MySQL. Giving a great deal of fidelity which is very useful when dealing with big amounts of data. An example of this is Facebook, which handles billions of records.

CMS Content management systems. We use these tools!

A content management system, also known as CMS, is a program that allows the setup of a framework for the creation and management of contents, mainly on web pages by clients.

It consists of an interface that controls one or more databases where all the site's content is stored. These systems allow to manage both content and design independently. Therefore, it is possible to manage all contents and change their design anytime without altering the content itself. It also allows an easy and controlled way to publish many editors. A common example of these roles is the one that gives access to create contents and the one that gives access to publish those contents.

A CMS always works on the webserver where the site is on. Access to the CMS is generally through an internet browser and may require FTP access to upload contents.

When a user goes into a URL, a call is sent to the server. The graphic scheme is selected and the data is injected from the database. The page is dinamically generated and HTML is output to the user. Normally, many output designs are defined to give it flexibility when creating new sections and contents.

CMS give easy access to publish contents to a wider range of users. It allows users with no knowledge on computers to interact and publish their contents on the website.

Furthermore, it allows dynamic management of users and roles. The collaboration of many users on a single job and many interaction tools.

Backup, update and website restructuring are much more simple by having all the main site data and contents stored inside a structured database.

Here in CRIFA, we work with all the PHP based CMS like Drupal, Joomla and Wordpress.