Network Computing: Sizing Up the Development Tools

“For application development, Apache and PHP are my
favorites. The documentation is abundant, and the support from
users is phenomenal. The stability, especially on a Unix
server, is unparalleled. Source Code Control can be performed using
the freely available CVS tools. If your shop is not committed to
IIS or Java, give Apache, PHP and mySQL on a Linux server serious
consideration.”

“From simple to complex applications, Apache Web server provides
several options for developing code. The old-fashioned CGI (Common
Gateway Interface) in conjunction with Perl, C or any other
language will handle simple forms at low-traffic sites. These
programs are spawned in a separate process and thus typically add
considerably to the overhead of running your Web application.”

“Like Netscape and IIS, Apache has an API to make up for CGI’s
deficiencies. Using the Apache API, programmers can write a piece
of software according to a certain structure in C. This piece of
code, called a module, can then be linked to the Apache
distribution or loaded dynamically at run time. Using C function
calls, the programmer has direct access to many of Apache’s inner
workings.”

Complete
Story