What is this stuff??!!

[Mr. Dogg]

I'm new at CGI/PHP/ASP..etc..etc..

I know what Java is but is this another form of Java..another computer language for designing or something..sorry but I'm totally ignorant on the situation and would appreciate some help.

[Koolguy]

PHP and PERL are server side programming languages, meaning they are executed on the server and the results are returned to the client.

For info on php:
http://www.phpbuilder.com
http://php.resourceindex.com
http://www.php.net

For info on perl:
http://www.perl.com
http://cgi.resourceindex.com

[Nick]

Originally posted by Koolguy
PHP and PERL are server side programming languages, meaning they are executed on the server and the results are returned to the client.

For info on php:
http://www.phpbuilder.com
http://php.resourceindex.com
http://www.php.net

For info on perl:
http://www.perl.com
http://cgi.resourceindex.com

Both are fairly easy to learn once you can grasp the concept of the language. Once you get it, it is just like making a statement sentance. For example "If the word after the ? on this file is mainpage, open mainpage.html". As far as learning it, I would suggest you buy a book and learn perl first because it is more widespread (sad but true, no metallica pun intended, I hate those money-grubbing bastards). After you've learned Perl, PHP will [almost] come second nature because most of the ideas between the two are similar. Don't buy a book for PHP, simply download the manual and review the available commands.

[razor]

i think he is talking about JSP and java servlets. but if i were you i would try to learn php. it can do everything that perl does and is faster and has better database support. it is also not as complacated as perl.