[mapserver-users] PHP Vs. Cold Fusion...

[Puneet Kishor]

this is a ridiculous thread... this is a mapserver list, not a PHP v. CF
list. There are tons of lists out there with folks duking it out re which
religion is better... usually, anyone who has used one over the other will
profess for that to be better. The truth is there is no clear answer (except
perhaps that Perl is better than all of them :-) )

That said, here are some points with specific interest to Mapserver (I have
used CF for 7 years, and PHP for 2, so I guess I can talk with some clarity
on this issue) --

1. CF does not have support for Mapscript at this point, while PHP does.
However, one could use CF with Mapserver as a CGI. I have sent you an
earlier email showing you how this can be done using CFHTTP.

2. PHP's Mapscript support is good, but only if you are lucky enough to have
it work for you. After several weeks of trying I am still struggling to even
get PHP/Mapscript compile for me or run for me on MacOS X or on Windows
because of some reason or the other. Otoh, it runs fine on the RH box I am
using for developing a Mapserver site. I keep on trying to get PHP/Mapscript
to compile no MacOS X because that is what I _want_ to do, not what I _need_
to do... thank god.

3. No matter what anyone says, CF is by far the easiest and quickest
environment for developing db driven web applications. Of course, this
statement will not hold true for someone who has been using PHP for a long
time but has never used CF. That said, CF's db abstraction, session and
server variable management, administration console, and debugging
capabilities simply blow PHP out of the water. Of course, you pay for it...
a CF enterprise install is about $4k. But most folks would do as well with a
CF prof. install which is about $1200. CF express is free but is available
only on Win. CF will run, however, on most popular platforms out there
including Linux.

4. The argument that PHP is free is absolutely merit-less. You should use a
program because it does your work for you, or because you _have_ to use it
for some reason or the other. Mapserver is a great program NOT because it is
free but because it is a great program for doing what it does. Even at
$10,000 an install Mapserver would be better than ArcIMS, afaiac.

All that said, if you want complete control developing a Mapserver-driven
application with Mapscript support, I would urge you to choose either Perl
or PHP, because that support does not exist for CF. case closed.


> -----Original Message-----
> From: Jessica Anderson [mailto:janderson at PacificDataServices.com]
> Sent: Monday, March 11, 2002 10:42 AM
> To: mapserver-users at lists.gis.umn.edu
> Subject: [mapserver-users] PHP Vs. Cold Fusion...
> 
> 
> Could anyone explain how php would be more useful than cold 
> fusion or the
> advantages of using php?
> 
> Jessica Anderson
> Pacific Data Services
> PH. (209) 524-2479
> FAX. (209) 524-0282
>