PHP vs. Perl

Hello,

I'm new to CGI-programming (although I made applications in Clipper, so I do have programming experience).
I am now at a point where I have to decide to learn either Perl or PHP. I can imagine that when you are good at one of them, it makes you enthousiastic for that language, but maybe it is possible to compare these 2 languages as to ease of use / learning, database capabilities, availability etc.
If I want to test my programs on my desktop (offline), do I need to have a compiler/interpreter and where can I get it?
Thanks a lot for your time giving me some clues!

I learnt perl first and then php, syntax is very similar so you shouldn't have much probs switching between the two.

I find it faster to whip up a page using php, I tend to switch to perl for bigger projects.
Database access is easy in both, although I think php has the edge there
Learning wise I don't think it will matter much either way, both have a lot of tutorials available.

http://www.activeperl.com/
http://www.php.net

If you are doing it for your own personal benefit, I would learn perl first, because there are other applications for perl besides server-side scripting. If you are doing it to become a web developer and find a job in that field, I would learn PHP first, because that seems to be one of the buzzwords around recruiters, etc., these days.

You might want to consider Python for what you want to do. I started out using PHP now I only use Python. It's modular approach works well in a web based environment. Its not as well known as PHP and Perl but it is definately worth a look.

www.python.org

E.

I'll take a look at Python.
Is it supported by all webhosting providers?
I know my provider has Perl and PHP, but I don't know if Python is also supported.

I have looked around at web hosting providers and found that there is a good portion that do support Python. Chances are if they allow CGI access they probably have Python installed.

If you are really interested DevShed just got done with seven part series on Python. It might give you an idea of what can be done with the language.

E.

hi

I learnt perl first at University then i worked for a while making sites using perl. When i got my current job doing PHP i found it easy to pick up and alot better for creating websites because you can embedd the code into the HTML.

Although i still use perl to create more complex web applications so i guess its good to learn one and then pick up the other as and when you need it.

You can do a hell of alot more stuff with Perl just because of all the Modules avaliable at Cpan.org

Waseem