donpick
asked on
Create an application - what tools to use?
I am a retired network administrator (I worked on small systems, not giant installations) . I have programmed some systems using Access and SQL SERVER 2000 so I am familiar with database and table constructs (third normal form, etc).
I want to create some database systems. I thought I'd start with a fairly simple project: write a system to manage my ever growing recipe collection. I could write this using the tools I know (Access and SQL Server 2000) but SQL Server 2000 is old and outdated. My server is old and dying. I don't want to spend lots of money buying Windows 2008 server , SQL server 2010 and all the required licenses.
My recipe application would require :
- entering data (such as ingredients, recipe names and cooking instructions)
- enable the user to search for recipes by entering ingredients.
- produce a list of recipe titles based on some characters entered by the user. For example, if the user entered the letters "po" the application would return all recipes whose titles began with those letters.
- Provide the use of what Access calls combo objects. When entering ingredients the user will want to click on the ingredients box and see a list of ingredients as they enter a recipe. The selected ingredient becomes associated with the recipe.
- Be able to link to a video file (like an avi file or mpg file) to see a video of someone preparing the recipe.
- Be able to link to an image of what the recipe should look like if the instructions are followed correctly. The images and videos would be on an internal drive on the pc or in some external drive (not on a web site).
- Whatever tool is selected should be able to write to MySQL and PostgreSQL.
- Whatever tools are selected they should be able to run on Windows and Linux operating systems. I currently have most of my 7 pc's running Windows 7 Pro with a few still running Windows XP. I'll probably never migrate to Windows 8; I probably will migrate to some version of Linux.
You get the idea. Nothing new here.
My questions:
q1.) After roaming the web for a while it seems there are 3 candidates : PHP, Ruby and Python. Ruby and Python seem to be interpretive languages. PHP is something else, I'm not sure what it is. Given my criteria above, what tools would you use and why?
q2.) Once the tool is selected in Q1, what editor would you use? I assume code developers use some kind of editor like Ultra Edit or something like this - something which looks at the characters typed in and might suggest code to use. Access does this. When entering a call to a function, Access will display the parameter objects in the function. Please tell me what you use .
q3.) I assume all data entry is now done using a web interface. Which of the 3 do you feel would work well in a web interface?
q4.) My web programming experience is very limited. How difficult is it to enable the 3 candidates to work in a web interface? For example, I understand PHP requires Apache to be installed and then some other tools and then finally PHP is installed.
q5.) There seems to be a lot of discussion about frameworks. I know nothing about frameworks. How important are frameworks when you are coding an application? Which of the 3 candidates supports frameworks?
Thank you for your help
I want to create some database systems. I thought I'd start with a fairly simple project: write a system to manage my ever growing recipe collection. I could write this using the tools I know (Access and SQL Server 2000) but SQL Server 2000 is old and outdated. My server is old and dying. I don't want to spend lots of money buying Windows 2008 server , SQL server 2010 and all the required licenses.
My recipe application would require :
- entering data (such as ingredients, recipe names and cooking instructions)
- enable the user to search for recipes by entering ingredients.
- produce a list of recipe titles based on some characters entered by the user. For example, if the user entered the letters "po" the application would return all recipes whose titles began with those letters.
- Provide the use of what Access calls combo objects. When entering ingredients the user will want to click on the ingredients box and see a list of ingredients as they enter a recipe. The selected ingredient becomes associated with the recipe.
- Be able to link to a video file (like an avi file or mpg file) to see a video of someone preparing the recipe.
- Be able to link to an image of what the recipe should look like if the instructions are followed correctly. The images and videos would be on an internal drive on the pc or in some external drive (not on a web site).
- Whatever tool is selected should be able to write to MySQL and PostgreSQL.
- Whatever tools are selected they should be able to run on Windows and Linux operating systems. I currently have most of my 7 pc's running Windows 7 Pro with a few still running Windows XP. I'll probably never migrate to Windows 8; I probably will migrate to some version of Linux.
You get the idea. Nothing new here.
My questions:
q1.) After roaming the web for a while it seems there are 3 candidates : PHP, Ruby and Python. Ruby and Python seem to be interpretive languages. PHP is something else, I'm not sure what it is. Given my criteria above, what tools would you use and why?
q2.) Once the tool is selected in Q1, what editor would you use? I assume code developers use some kind of editor like Ultra Edit or something like this - something which looks at the characters typed in and might suggest code to use. Access does this. When entering a call to a function, Access will display the parameter objects in the function. Please tell me what you use .
q3.) I assume all data entry is now done using a web interface. Which of the 3 do you feel would work well in a web interface?
q4.) My web programming experience is very limited. How difficult is it to enable the 3 candidates to work in a web interface? For example, I understand PHP requires Apache to be installed and then some other tools and then finally PHP is installed.
q5.) There seems to be a lot of discussion about frameworks. I know nothing about frameworks. How important are frameworks when you are coding an application? Which of the 3 candidates supports frameworks?
Thank you for your help
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