At the cross-roads : work in hand : go ASP MVVM or PhP : which way to jump ? [modified]
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Hi, I can't see this very general request for your summary opinion on what strategy you'd choose to do a new web-site for a client as fitting in any one of the specific forums, so I'll post it here. A friend here, who is a world-class C# and ASP-every-flavour master, and who has made astounding revenues as a one-person do-all using those tools: now tells me he thinks PhP with JQuery, and maybe one or two other open-source libraries is the way to go, and has shifted his business to using those tools for all new work. Another person I respect for their technical competence in the PhP arena highly recommends WordPress as the delivery vehicle : I'm just looking into the parameters of using WordPress as a commercial site; my casual knowledge of it kind of "typed" it as a personal publishing platform. I'm fair-to-middling competent in C#, but have not really worked out with ASP.NET, MVVM, Ajax, etc. I'm nowhere with PhP except that I have the impression it's well-evolved, has "momentum," and lots of open-source CMS systems, Forum software, etc., which, of course, .NET also has. I have tried WPF, and find myself "allergic" to it. But I haven't checked out the latest Expression Blend to see if that has been resurrected from deserved oblivion. I also have never worked with Flash or ActionScript, and have no desire to use the Adobe suite of tools (except, of course, for graphics). So, let me ask you : imagine you've got a new job : mid-level complexity web-site : 1. selling high-end things 2. shopping cart 3. e-payment 4. need to use some higher-end type of product display interface like the now ubiquitous "carousel" style widgets that give you reflective surface effects, etc. 5. no legacy database : can use any database you choose. 6. client needs some kind of CMS so they can do trivial edits 7. in the initial phase no "interactive" facilities for users like forum software, guest books, etc. Of course you'd like to leave that door open for the future if possible. 8. the client is a friend and your desire is to help him get a solution he can manage without you (or find others to maintain the site) : not to create a "permanent employment" opportunity for yourself by creating your own self-referential labyrinth of opaquely dense code :) Which would you pick : ASP or PhP ? thanks, Bill
"Many : not conversant with mathematical studies, imagine that because it [the Analytical Engine] is to give results in numerical notation, its processes must consequently be
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Hi, I can't see this very general request for your summary opinion on what strategy you'd choose to do a new web-site for a client as fitting in any one of the specific forums, so I'll post it here. A friend here, who is a world-class C# and ASP-every-flavour master, and who has made astounding revenues as a one-person do-all using those tools: now tells me he thinks PhP with JQuery, and maybe one or two other open-source libraries is the way to go, and has shifted his business to using those tools for all new work. Another person I respect for their technical competence in the PhP arena highly recommends WordPress as the delivery vehicle : I'm just looking into the parameters of using WordPress as a commercial site; my casual knowledge of it kind of "typed" it as a personal publishing platform. I'm fair-to-middling competent in C#, but have not really worked out with ASP.NET, MVVM, Ajax, etc. I'm nowhere with PhP except that I have the impression it's well-evolved, has "momentum," and lots of open-source CMS systems, Forum software, etc., which, of course, .NET also has. I have tried WPF, and find myself "allergic" to it. But I haven't checked out the latest Expression Blend to see if that has been resurrected from deserved oblivion. I also have never worked with Flash or ActionScript, and have no desire to use the Adobe suite of tools (except, of course, for graphics). So, let me ask you : imagine you've got a new job : mid-level complexity web-site : 1. selling high-end things 2. shopping cart 3. e-payment 4. need to use some higher-end type of product display interface like the now ubiquitous "carousel" style widgets that give you reflective surface effects, etc. 5. no legacy database : can use any database you choose. 6. client needs some kind of CMS so they can do trivial edits 7. in the initial phase no "interactive" facilities for users like forum software, guest books, etc. Of course you'd like to leave that door open for the future if possible. 8. the client is a friend and your desire is to help him get a solution he can manage without you (or find others to maintain the site) : not to create a "permanent employment" opportunity for yourself by creating your own self-referential labyrinth of opaquely dense code :) Which would you pick : ASP or PhP ? thanks, Bill
"Many : not conversant with mathematical studies, imagine that because it [the Analytical Engine] is to give results in numerical notation, its processes must consequently be
AJAX has nothing to do with Microsoft. However, in keeping with their mantra of making it so that dumb people can write code that works, they DO have an excellent library that gives you a ton of AJAX controls, albiet not highly efficient ones, if your site will be high load. Expression Blend is really only useful for importing XAML from other formats so you can put them into WPF or Silverlight projects. If I had to write something for the web that was flashy, I'd start with Silverlight. If I had to write something data centric that looked plain, I'd go ASP.NET. If I wanted an exercise in self loathing, I'd use PHP. But then, I know C#, and I know ASP.NET. PHP just looks ugly, and at least as old as it is, to me.
Christian Graus Driven to the arms of OSX by Vista. Read my blog to find out how I've worked around bugs in Microsoft tools and frameworks.
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AJAX has nothing to do with Microsoft. However, in keeping with their mantra of making it so that dumb people can write code that works, they DO have an excellent library that gives you a ton of AJAX controls, albiet not highly efficient ones, if your site will be high load. Expression Blend is really only useful for importing XAML from other formats so you can put them into WPF or Silverlight projects. If I had to write something for the web that was flashy, I'd start with Silverlight. If I had to write something data centric that looked plain, I'd go ASP.NET. If I wanted an exercise in self loathing, I'd use PHP. But then, I know C#, and I know ASP.NET. PHP just looks ugly, and at least as old as it is, to me.
Christian Graus Driven to the arms of OSX by Vista. Read my blog to find out how I've worked around bugs in Microsoft tools and frameworks.
Christian Graus wrote:
If I had to write something for the web that was flashy, I'd start with Silverlight.
Hi Christian, Thanks for your response. John Simmons on-going vivisection of his own brain as he struggles with SilverLight has pretty well convinced me it's not worth taking up yet, and I think if a highly competent programmer (like I assume John is) finds it that difficult to make it work, then it's not "ripe" for me yet. Too bad I can't just write a WinForms C# application using all the tricks I know (and have learned many of them from CP) and press a button and make a website :) best, Bill
"Many : not conversant with mathematical studies, imagine that because it [the Analytical Engine] is to give results in numerical notation, its processes must consequently be arithmetical, numerical, rather than algebraical and analytical. This is an error. The engine can arrange and combine numerical quantities as if they were letters or any other general symbols; and it fact it might bring out its results in algebraical notation, were provisions made accordingly." Ada, Countess Lovelace, 1844
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Christian Graus wrote:
If I had to write something for the web that was flashy, I'd start with Silverlight.
Hi Christian, Thanks for your response. John Simmons on-going vivisection of his own brain as he struggles with SilverLight has pretty well convinced me it's not worth taking up yet, and I think if a highly competent programmer (like I assume John is) finds it that difficult to make it work, then it's not "ripe" for me yet. Too bad I can't just write a WinForms C# application using all the tricks I know (and have learned many of them from CP) and press a button and make a website :) best, Bill
"Many : not conversant with mathematical studies, imagine that because it [the Analytical Engine] is to give results in numerical notation, its processes must consequently be arithmetical, numerical, rather than algebraical and analytical. This is an error. The engine can arrange and combine numerical quantities as if they were letters or any other general symbols; and it fact it might bring out its results in algebraical notation, were provisions made accordingly." Ada, Countess Lovelace, 1844
Silverlight works just fine. It's what John is trying to do with it that is his problem.
BillWoodruff wrote:
Too bad I can't just write a WinForms C# application using all the tricks I know (and have learned many of them from CP) and press a button and make a website
Silverlight is the closest you will come to that.
Christian Graus Driven to the arms of OSX by Vista. Read my blog to find out how I've worked around bugs in Microsoft tools and frameworks.
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Hi, I can't see this very general request for your summary opinion on what strategy you'd choose to do a new web-site for a client as fitting in any one of the specific forums, so I'll post it here. A friend here, who is a world-class C# and ASP-every-flavour master, and who has made astounding revenues as a one-person do-all using those tools: now tells me he thinks PhP with JQuery, and maybe one or two other open-source libraries is the way to go, and has shifted his business to using those tools for all new work. Another person I respect for their technical competence in the PhP arena highly recommends WordPress as the delivery vehicle : I'm just looking into the parameters of using WordPress as a commercial site; my casual knowledge of it kind of "typed" it as a personal publishing platform. I'm fair-to-middling competent in C#, but have not really worked out with ASP.NET, MVVM, Ajax, etc. I'm nowhere with PhP except that I have the impression it's well-evolved, has "momentum," and lots of open-source CMS systems, Forum software, etc., which, of course, .NET also has. I have tried WPF, and find myself "allergic" to it. But I haven't checked out the latest Expression Blend to see if that has been resurrected from deserved oblivion. I also have never worked with Flash or ActionScript, and have no desire to use the Adobe suite of tools (except, of course, for graphics). So, let me ask you : imagine you've got a new job : mid-level complexity web-site : 1. selling high-end things 2. shopping cart 3. e-payment 4. need to use some higher-end type of product display interface like the now ubiquitous "carousel" style widgets that give you reflective surface effects, etc. 5. no legacy database : can use any database you choose. 6. client needs some kind of CMS so they can do trivial edits 7. in the initial phase no "interactive" facilities for users like forum software, guest books, etc. Of course you'd like to leave that door open for the future if possible. 8. the client is a friend and your desire is to help him get a solution he can manage without you (or find others to maintain the site) : not to create a "permanent employment" opportunity for yourself by creating your own self-referential labyrinth of opaquely dense code :) Which would you pick : ASP or PhP ? thanks, Bill
"Many : not conversant with mathematical studies, imagine that because it [the Analytical Engine] is to give results in numerical notation, its processes must consequently be
It depends on your experience, how big an issue hosting costs are and what the clients want. The big pros of PHP are the cheapness and the availability of open-source tools and libraries. CMS tools like Wordpress, Drupal and Joomla are relatively straightforward to configure for a simple content-based site, and there are shopping carts such as OSCommerce available. Unless the client wants something truly bespoke you may well be able to satisfy their needs by configuring such tools. You could set up a PHP site, either using an existing tool, or working from scratch, for a relatively minimal cost. Unless you already have servers, ASP.NET will incur a higher setup cost and I think it will take longer to get something up and running, though experience with C# will count in your favour here. Large clients will almost certainly prefer .NET to PHP because of the guarantees provided by running on a Microsoft platform. Open-source is still not trusted by a number of large IT departments. I would definitely recommend using some form of MVC framework. From what I've seen of the ASP MVC platform it looks fairly usable. Standard ASP.NET by contrast is horrible. Even if you're more used to developing standalone applications rather than working with the web I would resist the temptation to try to develop a website in a similar way. Flash and Silverlight are no way to build entire sites and the web doesn't really fit the event-driven model that standard ASP.NET uses. A good programmer should have no trouble in grasping the concepts behind web development and delivering something appropriate, rather than trying to force their existing knowledge into a website shaped hole. It's also worth making sure that your site works well without Javascript/AJAX first, then add it in later. It should be a layer of polish on the top to enhance the user experience rather than an integral part of the site, and in my experience it is easier to add Javascript to a well-built site than to add non-JS support to a site which relies on it. Hope this helps!
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Hi, I can't see this very general request for your summary opinion on what strategy you'd choose to do a new web-site for a client as fitting in any one of the specific forums, so I'll post it here. A friend here, who is a world-class C# and ASP-every-flavour master, and who has made astounding revenues as a one-person do-all using those tools: now tells me he thinks PhP with JQuery, and maybe one or two other open-source libraries is the way to go, and has shifted his business to using those tools for all new work. Another person I respect for their technical competence in the PhP arena highly recommends WordPress as the delivery vehicle : I'm just looking into the parameters of using WordPress as a commercial site; my casual knowledge of it kind of "typed" it as a personal publishing platform. I'm fair-to-middling competent in C#, but have not really worked out with ASP.NET, MVVM, Ajax, etc. I'm nowhere with PhP except that I have the impression it's well-evolved, has "momentum," and lots of open-source CMS systems, Forum software, etc., which, of course, .NET also has. I have tried WPF, and find myself "allergic" to it. But I haven't checked out the latest Expression Blend to see if that has been resurrected from deserved oblivion. I also have never worked with Flash or ActionScript, and have no desire to use the Adobe suite of tools (except, of course, for graphics). So, let me ask you : imagine you've got a new job : mid-level complexity web-site : 1. selling high-end things 2. shopping cart 3. e-payment 4. need to use some higher-end type of product display interface like the now ubiquitous "carousel" style widgets that give you reflective surface effects, etc. 5. no legacy database : can use any database you choose. 6. client needs some kind of CMS so they can do trivial edits 7. in the initial phase no "interactive" facilities for users like forum software, guest books, etc. Of course you'd like to leave that door open for the future if possible. 8. the client is a friend and your desire is to help him get a solution he can manage without you (or find others to maintain the site) : not to create a "permanent employment" opportunity for yourself by creating your own self-referential labyrinth of opaquely dense code :) Which would you pick : ASP or PhP ? thanks, Bill
"Many : not conversant with mathematical studies, imagine that because it [the Analytical Engine] is to give results in numerical notation, its processes must consequently be
You could also use a CMS like Typo3, Joomla or Drupal. There are also lots of modules available, you will be able to meet all of your customer's requirements without coding a single line (or at least only a few lines). However, you should make yourself familiar with CSS.
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Hi, I can't see this very general request for your summary opinion on what strategy you'd choose to do a new web-site for a client as fitting in any one of the specific forums, so I'll post it here. A friend here, who is a world-class C# and ASP-every-flavour master, and who has made astounding revenues as a one-person do-all using those tools: now tells me he thinks PhP with JQuery, and maybe one or two other open-source libraries is the way to go, and has shifted his business to using those tools for all new work. Another person I respect for their technical competence in the PhP arena highly recommends WordPress as the delivery vehicle : I'm just looking into the parameters of using WordPress as a commercial site; my casual knowledge of it kind of "typed" it as a personal publishing platform. I'm fair-to-middling competent in C#, but have not really worked out with ASP.NET, MVVM, Ajax, etc. I'm nowhere with PhP except that I have the impression it's well-evolved, has "momentum," and lots of open-source CMS systems, Forum software, etc., which, of course, .NET also has. I have tried WPF, and find myself "allergic" to it. But I haven't checked out the latest Expression Blend to see if that has been resurrected from deserved oblivion. I also have never worked with Flash or ActionScript, and have no desire to use the Adobe suite of tools (except, of course, for graphics). So, let me ask you : imagine you've got a new job : mid-level complexity web-site : 1. selling high-end things 2. shopping cart 3. e-payment 4. need to use some higher-end type of product display interface like the now ubiquitous "carousel" style widgets that give you reflective surface effects, etc. 5. no legacy database : can use any database you choose. 6. client needs some kind of CMS so they can do trivial edits 7. in the initial phase no "interactive" facilities for users like forum software, guest books, etc. Of course you'd like to leave that door open for the future if possible. 8. the client is a friend and your desire is to help him get a solution he can manage without you (or find others to maintain the site) : not to create a "permanent employment" opportunity for yourself by creating your own self-referential labyrinth of opaquely dense code :) Which would you pick : ASP or PhP ? thanks, Bill
"Many : not conversant with mathematical studies, imagine that because it [the Analytical Engine] is to give results in numerical notation, its processes must consequently be
Bill, both ASP.Net and PHP both function well. Both will do what you want. People criticize PHP because they don't really know (or understand) what it has to offer, it is equally true the other way around. However, unless there is some compelling reason to go down the route of Silverlight, as interesting as this Silverlight no doubt is, I would disregard that, as I would with "the cloud" and other Adobe products especially as HTML5 & CSS3 is just around the corner with more browsers starting to support this technology. The choice could just boil down to costs. PHP & MySQL hosted solutions would be cheaper than ASP.NET & MS SQL Server. Development time and development costs will vary, but shouldn't by much, given a like for like product.
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Bill, both ASP.Net and PHP both function well. Both will do what you want. People criticize PHP because they don't really know (or understand) what it has to offer, it is equally true the other way around. However, unless there is some compelling reason to go down the route of Silverlight, as interesting as this Silverlight no doubt is, I would disregard that, as I would with "the cloud" and other Adobe products especially as HTML5 & CSS3 is just around the corner with more browsers starting to support this technology. The choice could just boil down to costs. PHP & MySQL hosted solutions would be cheaper than ASP.NET & MS SQL Server. Development time and development costs will vary, but shouldn't by much, given a like for like product.
Richard A. Abbott wrote:
especially as HTML5 & CSS3 is just around the corner with more browsers starting to support this technology.
I don't mind the other things you said, but I think this is insane. How many web apps are so compelling, that they will inspire people to download a new browser for HTML5 support ? Meaningful penetration of HTML5 is a long, long way away.
Christian Graus Driven to the arms of OSX by Vista. Read my blog to find out how I've worked around bugs in Microsoft tools and frameworks.
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Hi, I can't see this very general request for your summary opinion on what strategy you'd choose to do a new web-site for a client as fitting in any one of the specific forums, so I'll post it here. A friend here, who is a world-class C# and ASP-every-flavour master, and who has made astounding revenues as a one-person do-all using those tools: now tells me he thinks PhP with JQuery, and maybe one or two other open-source libraries is the way to go, and has shifted his business to using those tools for all new work. Another person I respect for their technical competence in the PhP arena highly recommends WordPress as the delivery vehicle : I'm just looking into the parameters of using WordPress as a commercial site; my casual knowledge of it kind of "typed" it as a personal publishing platform. I'm fair-to-middling competent in C#, but have not really worked out with ASP.NET, MVVM, Ajax, etc. I'm nowhere with PhP except that I have the impression it's well-evolved, has "momentum," and lots of open-source CMS systems, Forum software, etc., which, of course, .NET also has. I have tried WPF, and find myself "allergic" to it. But I haven't checked out the latest Expression Blend to see if that has been resurrected from deserved oblivion. I also have never worked with Flash or ActionScript, and have no desire to use the Adobe suite of tools (except, of course, for graphics). So, let me ask you : imagine you've got a new job : mid-level complexity web-site : 1. selling high-end things 2. shopping cart 3. e-payment 4. need to use some higher-end type of product display interface like the now ubiquitous "carousel" style widgets that give you reflective surface effects, etc. 5. no legacy database : can use any database you choose. 6. client needs some kind of CMS so they can do trivial edits 7. in the initial phase no "interactive" facilities for users like forum software, guest books, etc. Of course you'd like to leave that door open for the future if possible. 8. the client is a friend and your desire is to help him get a solution he can manage without you (or find others to maintain the site) : not to create a "permanent employment" opportunity for yourself by creating your own self-referential labyrinth of opaquely dense code :) Which would you pick : ASP or PhP ? thanks, Bill
"Many : not conversant with mathematical studies, imagine that because it [the Analytical Engine] is to give results in numerical notation, its processes must consequently be
I would go with ASP.NET (but it might be nothing but my personal preferences). I'm not so big on the official MVC framework myself, but ASP.NET itself is solid, well thought out, and powerful, as is .NET itself. I have worked with PHP (alongside my ASP.NET work) for several years and the more I work with it, the more it feels like it is hodge-podge and pasted together - especially the parts introduced pre-PHP5. Sure, you can find a way to do almost anything you want to do with it, but it's not consistent with itself (I must say though, there are plenty of good docs for it). Writing, using, and reusing business logic and libraries is also cleaner in .NET, vs in PHP you can't help feeling like you're scripting them, not coding them. Then again, if your friend is better versed in PHP or has better access to PHP talent, he might like that better. You might also look into pre-built components to do the bulk of the work for you (regardless of the language/platform you choose).
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I would go with ASP.NET (but it might be nothing but my personal preferences). I'm not so big on the official MVC framework myself, but ASP.NET itself is solid, well thought out, and powerful, as is .NET itself. I have worked with PHP (alongside my ASP.NET work) for several years and the more I work with it, the more it feels like it is hodge-podge and pasted together - especially the parts introduced pre-PHP5. Sure, you can find a way to do almost anything you want to do with it, but it's not consistent with itself (I must say though, there are plenty of good docs for it). Writing, using, and reusing business logic and libraries is also cleaner in .NET, vs in PHP you can't help feeling like you're scripting them, not coding them. Then again, if your friend is better versed in PHP or has better access to PHP talent, he might like that better. You might also look into pre-built components to do the bulk of the work for you (regardless of the language/platform you choose).
J. Dunlap wrote:
Then again, if your friend is better versed in PHP or has better access to PHP talent, he might like that better.
Yes, turning it on it's head, the best tool to use is often the tool that the team understands the best, unless there's major technical reasons not to use it.
Christian Graus Driven to the arms of OSX by Vista. Read my blog to find out how I've worked around bugs in Microsoft tools and frameworks.
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Richard A. Abbott wrote:
especially as HTML5 & CSS3 is just around the corner with more browsers starting to support this technology.
I don't mind the other things you said, but I think this is insane. How many web apps are so compelling, that they will inspire people to download a new browser for HTML5 support ? Meaningful penetration of HTML5 is a long, long way away.
Christian Graus Driven to the arms of OSX by Vista. Read my blog to find out how I've worked around bugs in Microsoft tools and frameworks.
Apart from old stick-in-the-mud IE, most browsers now automatically update themselves. I know there are a lot of big businesses still tied to old versions of IE but many, many users are switching to Firefox, Chrome and Safari, which support the latest standards and regularly run automatic updates. People won't need to download a new browser, they'll just find the one they have starting to support new standards and website developers will start to take advantage of new features. Most people won't notice the switch other than to find their experience becoming richer.
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Richard A. Abbott wrote:
especially as HTML5 & CSS3 is just around the corner with more browsers starting to support this technology.
I don't mind the other things you said, but I think this is insane. How many web apps are so compelling, that they will inspire people to download a new browser for HTML5 support ? Meaningful penetration of HTML5 is a long, long way away.
Christian Graus Driven to the arms of OSX by Vista. Read my blog to find out how I've worked around bugs in Microsoft tools and frameworks.
As I said, HTML5 & CSS3 is receiving browser vendor support now as I write. You can close your eyes to it if you so wish, but doing so won't make it go away. And no, it is not insane to download new browser versions no more than it is for us developers to update our skills using the latest and greatest Microsoft (and non Microsoft) offerings. It may take some time before the specifications are complete, and some time before all the browsers support all aspects of the specification. This road map might be long, just make sure you don't compromise your (development) future by taking an early exit.
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Silverlight works just fine. It's what John is trying to do with it that is his problem.
BillWoodruff wrote:
Too bad I can't just write a WinForms C# application using all the tricks I know (and have learned many of them from CP) and press a button and make a website
Silverlight is the closest you will come to that.
Christian Graus Driven to the arms of OSX by Vista. Read my blog to find out how I've worked around bugs in Microsoft tools and frameworks.
Seconded, Silverlight is pretty good imho. I think thought before committing to any development platform you have to give some wider consideration to the intended audience i.e. is the application a line of business, internal company website or a public facing website? Given Silverlights penetration (as of PDC 2010) of 43%, is it reasonable to build an application using a plugin that rules out a potentially substantial user base? I'm not arguing one approach or another, just mentioning that these are also considerations
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Hi, I can't see this very general request for your summary opinion on what strategy you'd choose to do a new web-site for a client as fitting in any one of the specific forums, so I'll post it here. A friend here, who is a world-class C# and ASP-every-flavour master, and who has made astounding revenues as a one-person do-all using those tools: now tells me he thinks PhP with JQuery, and maybe one or two other open-source libraries is the way to go, and has shifted his business to using those tools for all new work. Another person I respect for their technical competence in the PhP arena highly recommends WordPress as the delivery vehicle : I'm just looking into the parameters of using WordPress as a commercial site; my casual knowledge of it kind of "typed" it as a personal publishing platform. I'm fair-to-middling competent in C#, but have not really worked out with ASP.NET, MVVM, Ajax, etc. I'm nowhere with PhP except that I have the impression it's well-evolved, has "momentum," and lots of open-source CMS systems, Forum software, etc., which, of course, .NET also has. I have tried WPF, and find myself "allergic" to it. But I haven't checked out the latest Expression Blend to see if that has been resurrected from deserved oblivion. I also have never worked with Flash or ActionScript, and have no desire to use the Adobe suite of tools (except, of course, for graphics). So, let me ask you : imagine you've got a new job : mid-level complexity web-site : 1. selling high-end things 2. shopping cart 3. e-payment 4. need to use some higher-end type of product display interface like the now ubiquitous "carousel" style widgets that give you reflective surface effects, etc. 5. no legacy database : can use any database you choose. 6. client needs some kind of CMS so they can do trivial edits 7. in the initial phase no "interactive" facilities for users like forum software, guest books, etc. Of course you'd like to leave that door open for the future if possible. 8. the client is a friend and your desire is to help him get a solution he can manage without you (or find others to maintain the site) : not to create a "permanent employment" opportunity for yourself by creating your own self-referential labyrinth of opaquely dense code :) Which would you pick : ASP or PhP ? thanks, Bill
"Many : not conversant with mathematical studies, imagine that because it [the Analytical Engine] is to give results in numerical notation, its processes must consequently be
Many thanks for the thoughtful responses to this query, particularly from C. Gauss and D. Martin ! I thought the point made by Eslys about the market penetration of SilverLight (43%) was very important. This is not a multi-tier solution, or "line-of-business" application, it's really an on-line store-front in a specialty niche high-end market. So big-time scaling for huge numbers of users at any one time is probably a non-issue. The question : "which is better: for me to leverage what I know of C#, or to provide a solution for a client/friend for which there is a larger local (Thailand) talent pool to draw from ... compared to a much smaller talent pool for C# and ASP-any-flavour ?" is very much on my mind. I am kicking-myself-in-the-but for not having made the effort to do at least one ASP.NET site just to get familiar with it: but I have shied away because of what I have heard of performance issues, and when I got hopeful again, when the Ajax monster came along, then I heard, from friends I respect technically, that Ajax was crap. Is the ubiquitous adoption of jQuery (at last, even MS embraces) on one level, an indictment of Ajax ? And while I have followed, with great interest, the evolution of the MVC and MVVVM ideas/paradigms (whose conceptual basis, imho, is about as fresh as Xerox Parc in 1967): their implementation in various frameworks (Unity, the radical experiments of Marc Clifton; the esoteric higher-Hogwarts magicks channeled by Sacha Barber and the cult of the "WPF Disciples," etc.) I have yet to see a clear and compelling something that I felt I would want to commit to years of study and work with. Maybe ASP.NET MVC or MVVM II takes care of business ? This is a one-off solution with a client who is a brilliant industrial designer and mechanical engineer, but who does not have time and/or inclination to pursue "going under the hood" on any flavour of frameworks, server-side stuff, etc. Right now I lean towards PhP, with possibly sub-contracting out the server-side hook-up of whatever commercial or open-source CMS and e-payment/client billing packages which might be used. As I said, I want to be able to walk away from this in a month or two with the conviction my friend does not depend on me to maintain the site, or extend it. And I keep having this thought, rather obsessively : why can't I migrate a complex Winform app quickly to ASP.NET, particularly when I don't need all the "eye candy," animations, time-lines, in SilverLight or WPF. Aside: Last night I came across