Have Your PHP Cake – Core Reasons For Using the CakePHP Framework

By Michael Dorf

For PHP developers, the question of which framework is ideal can pose a variety of opportunities. While many developers have traditionally built PHP apps with only the use of libraries, structuring their applications according to best practices and their own learning, there are distinct advantages to using a framework such as CakePHP. Rather than trying to identify a pattern that works ideally to scale PHP applications, CakePHP provides an integrated model view controller system that can separate the business logic of your app from the database and presentation.

By employing a PHP framework, you can scale development across a team or variety of developers for easier deployment. Chances are you are utilizing an informal Model-View-Controller (MVC) model even if you don’t fully realize you are relying upon MVC as the framework behind your development. There are strong structural advantages for considering CakePHP as your application foundation, since it provides a framework to upgrade, build and extend development in new directions.

One impressive features of CakePHP is its Object Relational Mapping (ORM) framework, which allows you to streamline SQL queries by presenting tables as classes. As a means of truly moving PHP towards a full object-oriented language, these relations can streamline database queries while making the entire development process more efficient. While classes can be challenging to work with in standard PHP, they are much easier to work with in CakePHP since applications have “core” and “app” directories where you can properly configure inheritance for each class. Issues with class inheritance are easy to understand since you can extend classes in a way that fits your development goals.

Core security and CRUD features are integrated within CakePHP from the outset, allowing you to secure the user submission process in less time. By automatically producing a scaffold for your CRUD activities you can begin customizing the forms and options based upon your requirements. Rather than trying to implement ad-hoc systems for updating or securing your application, Cake takes care of the leg work so you can dive right into your core business logic. Developers can further benefit from updates in web security standards which are quickly baked into CakePHP updates so you can keep your app secure from emerging trends on the web in less time.

Streamlining the development process is a core part of why working with CakePHP as your application framework can vastly improve the speed of deployment for your app. Rather than investing considerable time in configuring your Linux-Apache-MySQL-PHP (LAMP) setup, CakePHP has an automated configuration process through the “configuration” folder which auto-detects preferred settings. You can immediately jump into building your application and can further accelerate the process with extensive reusable code from plugins and components in the CakePHP library. For example, AJAX classes are fully integrated into the framework out-of-the-box, making the creation of dynamic forms and context-specific content a breeze.

With the impressive array of plugins, additional libraries, and components from the CakeForge open source developer repository, you can find nearly every major common feature available for your CakePHP based web application. By utilizing CakePHP, you automatically benefit from the up-to-date security standards, modular application structure, and scalable foundation that will serve your web site for years to come.

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Is Instructor Led PHP Training Worth the Buck?

By Michael Dorf

As you step back and evaluate the most effective ways to train your teams in PHP, it is important to consider the potential return on investment from instruction. While traditional seminars, classes or training sessions offer distinct advantages, today instructor led PHP training competes against videos courses, distance education, tutorials and certification tracks that offer their own unique approach. When considering these alternatives, however, it is important to consider the TRUE effectiveness of unfocused training given the strong benefits of instructor led training.

In order to document these advantages let’s review a potential case where a new employee (with a background in.NET) needs to get up-to-speed with PHP. Working with a certified, professional PHP instructor he can ask questions from his own vantage point, linking his existing training to accelerate PHP learning. With a video or distance course he is forced to constantly pause the instruction, desperately looking up terms and trying to relate it to his own knowledge. As a result, the upfront money saved by trying to scale media based training actually holds your firm back in terms of learning potential, slowing your path toward implementation of cutting edge PHP techniques throughout your organization. To fully appreciate the value of professional, instructor PHP training, it is important to fully realize the benefits from in-person education.

Responsive Training

One major advantage of instructor led training is the ability to ask questions in real time and get hands on answers. With recorded videos or tutorials, students are left to understand the answers for themselves, potentially complicating the learning process significantly. By contrast, an instructor led course can take on a path more useful to the audience. If multiple students are being challenged by a particular syntax or class, the instructor can make sure to focus on understanding the concept until he or she moves on. Building on expansive learning with a core set of knowledge if crucial for quality coding standards – meeting and exceeding these requirements should be a core principle of helping you to realize a strong return on your PHP investment.

Timely Insights

Another important advantage of in-person PHP training is timely benefits from the latest technology. While taking a course on PHP 5 is likely to introduce a number of important concepts, only a real time course can focus on the very latest developments in Linux, Apache, MySQL, PHP (LAMP), allowing students to learn about emerging frameworks, new developments from Zend, as well as keeping students up-to-date with new trends. In this way, understanding how to optimize your PHP application for cloud hosting can be integrated into a course that may not be offered by an antiquated distance learning curriculum. Professional instructor led training gives personal attention to emerging technology that impacts PHP coding in practice.

Practical, Professional Advice

The difference between PHP theory and coding practice can be large. An instructor led PHP training course can focus on how to implement PHP in a working environment, independent of the actual syntax.

With insights into agile development, group dynamics, unit testing and project updates, instructor training can provide a road-map to deliver a solid return on investment over the life of your PHP development team.

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Finding the Right PHP Developer

By Josek Morin

Web development is an important part of business marketing today. Not only do you need efficient programs and applications to take care of your business operations and management, but there are a huge number of other factors that make developing the right web application an important factor to consider for almost any business.

There are a good number of programming platforms and languages that developers use today to provide businesses and consumers the right web applications to help them with their requirements. PHP is one such programming language that has gained a huge popularity over time, and that too quite rightfully.

Apart from offering a completely free platform for web development (with Linux and MySQL), the work of a PHP developer is much simpler than most others, and hence offers your business an inexpensive, yet effective solution.

However there are a number of factors that you must consider while looking to hire PHP programmers for your web development requirements.

Some Useful Tips to Hire PHP Developers

1. Make sure you work with an individual PHP developer or business that has the right skills and experience, and are in constant touch with PHP development projects.

2. Look for professionals who have had adequate PHP training and recognized certification

3. Ensure the delivery time is something that will suit your requirements

4. Communication is of the utmost importance. You should be able to deal with the PHP developers efficiently using a project management tool and contact them easily as and when required

5. Look through the portfolio and contact some of the ex-clients to get a clear idea as to how efficient their services have been before you deicide to hire PHP programmers

Moreover, ensure the business or the PHP professional you have decided to deal with are capable of:

1. Offering you the right services related to web integration and maintenance, as well as further development

2. Demonstrating clear concepts regarding the right design etiquette

3. Planning towards efficient resource management

4. Possessing knowledge on associated software (like CMS) and multimedia

5. Offering you the most competitive price plans with the maximum reliability

There are a number of points where PHP excels over the other available programming platforms, apart from the most obvious price factor. For example, a Linux server is very stable and offers a much faster system than a Windows server would.

At the same time, mySQL databases are much lighter than the most popular RDBMS software, and yet offer almost all the features necessary for a web application to perform in the best possible way. MySQL too is freely available for you to use towards your web development needs.

In order to lay your hands on all these benefits associated with a PHP development environment, it is very important that you only hire PHP developers who can show you the right level of expertise and results for the money you spend on them.

Bear these above mentioned points on your mind when you decide to look for PHP developers for your business web application development requirements if you want the best results at the end of the day!

Basic Advantages of Linux Web Hosting

By Tina Hope

Linux web hosting not only helps you build your website from a small business to a large enterprise but also gives you many advantages over contemporaries and competitors alike. Once you decide your budget and also your required features, then you will be able to decide on the Linux web hosting package that will further improve your chances of doing well in business. The scripting language that is incorporated in your website also comes into play and so does the interactive facilities that are implemented in it. There are many advantages that one ends up getting through Linux web hosting services. Some of them are mentioned below:

1. Linux is open source code software and eventually does not require the gigantic licensing fee that one usually ends up paying for others. Other operating systems command a huge licensing fee in comparison to this one and it is this virtue of minimizing costs that makes this form of web hosting highly endearing to hire. You not only get to download it free of cost but also are rendered the advantage of using it sans any sort of costs.

2. The Linux based website can be converted to a window based website at any time of the day without any hassles. The website can easily be changed back into its original form or to any other form when the requirement of the user keeps growing continuously. The conversions can be done depending on the user requirements and can also be changed according to changing times.

3. This form of hosting is the most economical form of hosting and the user gets to save a huge amount of money out of the total budget. The only costs involved are those of the distribution that are further incurred by the proprietor or the owner.

4. Linux also proves to be the most cost effective and frugal option for your website when the scripting has to be done in languages like PHP and My SQL along with Perl. Unless and until the scripting is very heavily loaded, one does not have to worry about the whole process.

5. The operating system allows the user to run as many kinds of databases one feels like running. The most widely used databases include the likes of My SQL and Postgre SQL. These databases might look interrelated by nature and also allow highly optimized communication. This is done to quickly reclaim all the data.

6. It offers paramount security. The end user does not have to worry about the security of any of the applications and can go about doing anything on the server. Designers and programmers prefer this form over any other form and can mostly be seen using it.

These advantages this form of hosting a lot of advantages that are too good to ignore and subsequently have created a huge fan base for Linux web hosting India. Be it any IT professional who deals with this, Linux hosting is never short of springing in surprises and always manages to fox people.

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Why People Like cPanel Web Hosting Service

By Joyce Carcia

Before selecting a web hosting plan or a hosting account, it is important to ensure the quality, support and features they provide with the web hosting account. As far as maintaining a website is concerned, every webmaster would like to have a user friendly control panel. Recently, more and more hosting companies use cPanel as their hosting control panel. So why people like it? If the word cPanel is a strange word to you, never mind. I am going to explain what the cPanel is all about.

cPanel is a graphic application used to control applications in the within web page. It is a graphic program made by Linux Operating System. cPanel hosting has many great features which make managing your web site so much more easier.

Domains and Emails Management

cPanel control panel allows webmaster to easily log into the control panel or cPanel and manage your domain from anywhere you choose. You can save a lot of time and easily add domains, sub domains and email accounts. With cPanel hosting, you can also add email addresses, remove email addresses, and manage email. cPanel hosting gives you an easy way to set up an autoresponder.

Cron and MySQL

cPanel hosting allows you to set up cron jobs easily. And it usually comes with the ability to have MySql databases, which is crucial to any website. With MySql, it is very easy to create a database.

Website Statistics

When you buy cPanel hosting, you get access to a variety of ways to view the stats for your website. You can use Awstats to learn more about the visitors to your website, so as to improve your website.

In conclusion, the cPanel web hosting feature is a very active as well as an important part of your website which can help you generate more visitors.

Hostease offers you the best and cheap cPanel web hosting with great customer support (24×7 phone, email and live chat supp). All of the cPanel Hosting packages are available at a very cost effective price. You are also allowed to host multiple websites under the same account. All packages support for the PHP, MySQL, Perl, PHPMyAdmin, Cron Job and much more.

Hostease is a leading web hosting company, who offers REAL 24/7 support via email, live-chat and phone for client’s satisfaction. We never overload our server. All of our plans include the latest industry features available on the market. We cater for the personal blog as well as the multiple websites for large business group. Our packages are equipped with the features needed to meet all of your requirements.

10 Things to Know When You Select the Best Drupal Hosting

By Jared D. Ingram

Drupal hosting is a new concept in the internet world and has amazed all the human minds. In the beginning there was just a simple concept, web hosting. It later developed into dedicated web hosting and cheap web hosting, the technology just got better and PHP and ASP hosting services dawned on the web. The new technology just gets better with each day and right from the static pages to the dynamic ones, slowly the things only keep getting better and slowly the wordpress hosting, joomla hosting and PHPBB hosting has come our way.

Now, let us get down to Drupal hosting, this is basically a CMS or content management system and has been written down by the PHP and needs the MySQL database to function properly. Now after understanding the basic also know that drupal hosting can turn your website into large ones and small logs would soon help you in creating big directories and online communities.

If you are searching for best drupal hosting service for you then you must take 10 things into consideration:

• Drupal is established by PHP even though you can always select a windows hosting and PostgreSQL, but the finest alternative to function Drupal hosting is still the Linux and MySQL.
• Even now, drupal hosting is new to the internet world and not all the good web hosting companies will be able to offer you with solutions that give your Drupal site good support.
• A company that offers free Drupal installation and free themes etc does not mean that they are the best drupal hosting services. You will get the same free services with Fantastico, you have to know that all the hosting companies have these tools set up to be able to provide you with the services and that Fantastico is already very popular in the web hosting companies.
• The clean URL support is vital requirement from the best hosting as it would make your website more search engine friendly.
• If you want to get multi-site features of the best hosting, you would have to get an access to the Unix Shell and create a Symlink. Though for the security purposes, this might not be permissible. In such cases you can also create a PHP script for accomplishing your task.
• The best drupal hosting can only work if the database runs very fast and a lot o companies fail to do that.
• There are some hosting companies that will set a limit for you to utilize the CPU resource or the Memory resource. You will have to check with the hosting providers and understand the data and also keep a close check on your website to see if it gets down for this trouble. If this is the trouble then you will have to upgrade your hosting.
• Select a drupal hosting company that permits you to preserve your cron jobs.
• There is a common phenomenon for all the shared web hosting companies; here you will receive unlimited bandwidth and disk space. But do not believe these companies and always remember that you will get for what you will pay!
• Backup your website daily, this is really important.

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Should I Use a Linux Or a Windows Server?

By Gary Klingsheim

Even some folks who are pretty computer savvy, and can make Microsoft Office jump through hoops, are less knowledgeable when it comes to the operating system (OS) and networking technology that drives the Internet. Most people who do not work in that end of the business need to do a little homework when confronted with the question, Should I use a Linux or Windows server?

There are some arcane hybrids and do-it-yourself OS schemes around, but the OS choice you have at most hosting companies today is between Linux and Windows. Hosting companies don’t always clarify exactly why one might be better than the other for a particular customer or situation, leading some folks to conclude that there is really no difference at all. This is not the case. It does matter what kind of server you use, and there are clear differences between Linux and Windows.

Licensing costs money

All the various flavors of Windows, from the multiple versions of the new Windows 7 to the “enterprise” (server) packages, belong wholly to Microsoft, also known as the “Evil Empire” to the hackers and open source fans that prefer Linux. Linux, being open source, is free. This is the first major difference with important repercussions, since the hosting company’s costs for licensing Windows will be passed on to the customer (that’s you). Free, open source Linux means lower hosting costs all around, if only by a few dollars per month.

Getting a Windows hosting package is going to be a bit more expensive, but not so much more that you should make the difference a deal-breaker. Other factors — the make and model of the servers, company location, package offer details — can affect pricing as much or more, so make sure to get the big picture and don’t bog yourself down in an “OS controversy.” That said, you should know the operational, stylistic and tech-related differences between the two server types in order to make an informed decision.

Slow down and consider

Now, simply because you use a PC with Microsoft (MS) Windows, or even built your own Web site with it, doesn’t mean you have to have a Windows server. You will access your site through such tools as Web-based control panels and FTP (File Transfer Protocol) software, and can do so from a Macintosh running Mac OS X, a PC running Windows 7 or a homemade computer running Mandrake or RedHat (distributions of Linux). Some commands will differ, perhaps, but all the tools do the same thing, in much the same way.

Slow down enough to consider what you actually need to do with your site and what you expect from the server (and hosting firm). E-mail protocols, both IMAP and POP, work fine in both environments, as do PHP, the standardized HTML and XML, JavaScript and “file helpers” like Adobe Flash and Reader. However, Frontpage extensions, ASP, the.Net environment, Access, Windows media and other MS technologies will require a Windows server. For these particular features, Linux support ranges from limited to non-existent, and trying to work around the restrictions will cost you a lot more than paying the difference between the hosting packages.

Security and management

There have been some contentious arguments about the relative stability and security records of Linux and Windows server environments. Some computer professionals are simply knee-jerk anti-MS partisans, and there are also any number of MS fans that are anti-Linux (as well as anti-Mac). The fact that Windows is the most common OS in the world has both advantages and drawbacks. Millions of people are working on making it better, and just as many are trying to shoot it down in flames.

On the other hand, Linux is now most common server OS in use and hackers have had greater than expected success subverting it, too. The fact is that the platform in use is not as important to security as systems administration, attentive technicians and company management. If security is high on your list, you need to examine the company as much or more than the company’s equipment. Don’t take their marketing materials as a promise — do some due diligence here. It matters.

A toss-up?

There is probably little difference in server performance because of the choice of OS. Again, it can come down to how the companies install their software and maintain their hardware — Linux just might be “faster” in some functions than Windows if, in fact, the Windows OS was installed in default mode and not “tweaked.” (This can be true of Linux installs, too, of course.) In the broadest terms, performance is comparable and you can have a fine, effective and efficient hosting experience with either kind of server.

The bottom line is that you should certainly consider the kind of server, particularly if you use MS technologies than need a Windows environment, but your search should be for a good host, not a good server. A company with the best equipment in the world will be no help to you if it is mismanaged, oblivious to security lapses and technologically out of its depth. With a rough equivalence in features, reliability, security and cost, a “winner” is impossible to choose beforehand. You can win — or lose — with any kind of server, so keep looking at the big picture and just make your decision.

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Linux Server and Home Web Hosting

By Jan Pascal

If you are interested in web design or development you should have some local test place where you can check and debug websites. If you are doing this professionally you will probably invest in a real web server. But if you are doing this for fun or the reliability and speed is not a problem then you can have a simple solution with minimal investment–own Linux server. There are also some simple and effective solutions with applications like WampServer or EesyPHP. You can use them and have a good testing environment. However, having a dedicated Linux computer offers many opportunities for additional functions. In addition to this, a physical web server running Linux is a very close approximation of the real hosting environment. To install and use such server you need no special knowledge or skills. All you need is access to the internet and computer with web browser.

To set up a small but useful Linux server you need a computer. Your old computer that was replaced with a new fancy multi-core machine is a perfect candidate for this project. Linux operating system usually runs on any machine so you should not be concerned about the processor speed or the amount of RAM. If you are new to Linux you should learn some basic tips by browsing the web. There are many websites that provide step by step instructions on how to download and install Linux on any computer. The most important rule about solving any problem is to simply google for it. Every problem you may encounter during installation or customization is somewhere already mentioned together with possible solutions or hints.

After you have a running Linux computer you should check if networking is working and if it boots without any errors. Then you need to install web server software. For this you will need at least Apache, MySQL and PHP. To upload files you will also need a FTP server software. To find out how to install applications you should again check web resources where you will find every step described in details. Before you can test your home hosting you should configure Apache for shared hosting and create few directories for your projects. This should be enough for basic web development.

Now you can put some files in the www folder and they should be visible in your browser. Simply enter the IP address of your Linux computer into the address bar of your browser and you should get your default website. You can add a line to your hosts file where you can associate a name with the IP address of the server. Then you will be able to access the server with this name.

An additional upgrade of the server can be some software to allow access from windows computers. For this purpose you can install a Samba file server which will allow you to access www or any other folder from the explorer in any Windows computer. With a Linux system running on your old computer you can get much more than just a testing environment for web development.

The author uses home Linux server for file storage and web development. One of his latest projects is a website about home hair removal which provides information about popular hair removal topics like facial hair removal for women. This website was created on the local Linux computer and then uploaded to the real web hosting server where you can access it.

By Sophia Carcia

Web Hosting Checklist

While there are a large number of web hosting providers all over the world, if you are new to web hosting industry, you may be confused about finding a low cost yet reliable one. In this article, I will give you a brief checklist which you must truly consider when you are shopping around.

1. Disk space

2. Bandwidth

3. Domains

4. Programming language

5. Email accounts

6. E-commerce features

7. A good control Panel

8. A good technical support

9. Flexibility

10. Additional service

11. A robust infrastructure

Disk space

The disk space is space used to hold the files that make up your website, including html files, graphics, scripts and multimedia content. Every hosting account has a certain allotment of disk space. When you are looking for a web host, you need to find a provider, who can offer you more disk space so that you will free of worry about overuse. Especially, if your website including things like download files, pictures, music and video, you will require more disk space.

Bandwidth

Bandwidth (also known as data transfer), refers to the total amount of data that downloaded or uploaded from a particular website or web hosting account during a given time (usually a month). A web hosting account is restricted to stay under its monthly bandwidth allotment just like the water traffic limited by the pipe. If you are going to have a lot of visitors or to host large files, video or photo, then you need a high bandwidth plan.

Domain names

What is a domain name? Domain name is the address on the internet. If you are going to start any kind of online business, you need to get a unique domain name (address) so that your website can be reach by people from all over the world. For example, the domain name www.Hostease.com identifies the location where this web site is hosted. Many of you may wonder you need to register a domain with domain register; this is not always the case, many web hosting company offer you free domain name if you hired their web host. This will save you money. Just like, the company hostease offers free domain name for life and multiple sub-domain.

Programming languages

Many newbie may ask question on forum likes “Which is the best programming language? Is it PHP, ASP, CGI or any other? ” There is not really the best language to use. It really depends on what you are trying to do, on what platform. If you are going to using a Linux shared host, then PHP is probably the best. If you are on a windows hosting, then.asp might be a good choice. Personally, Linux web hosting with PHP and MySQL is my favorite.

PHP is short for “Hypertext Pre-processor” and becoming increasing popular for creating dynamic web pages. It can replace Microsoft Active Server Pages (.asp) technology on Linux/Unix server. PHP enjoy great popularity due to the open source root, which means you can use it freely. As a conjunction with PHP, MySQL is well known for its quick processing, proven reliability and ease of use. MySQL is an essential part of almost every open source PHP application. Of course, it would better if the hosting company provides all the scripts, PHP5, CGI, fast CGI, Perl, Python, and SSI for you.

Email accounts

This is another important feature for your online business. You need to check out that your hosting solution includes email accounts for your staff. Email features, such as unlimited email account, POP3 account, web mail, mailing lists, auto responders, catchalls, spam filter, and mail forwarding etc should be support for the ease and security of your business.

E-commerce features

The purpose of hosting your website on the internet is to make business and profits. Except that you will definitely only focus on blogging instead of online business, you need to get a shopping cart for your website so that your customers to order and buy your products. Check out with the web hosting to make sure they offer shopping carts for your current or future business requirements.

A good control Panel

A control panel in web hosting refers to the interface provided by the hosting company for the maintenance and monitoring of the hosted website. You get administrative control over your domains, email accounts, database and web stats among other features. The main purpose of a control panel is to enrich user experience by providing a number of tools that dramatically reduce administrative challenges. One of the most widely used control panels on the market is cPanel, which allows you to control various aspects of your hosting account and even provides details on bandwidth and other statistics.

A good technical support

It is important to make sure that your web hosting company provides you professional customer support. Their responses should be fast and make to the point. There are many web hosting companies that can very quickly identify the problem, but take a lot of time to solve the problem. It is extremely important that you can access to their support via different ways, email, tickets, knowledge-base, phone, forums. If you really want to make profits with whatever online business you have, you should select a web host that has excellent customer care and technical staff that is professionally trained to handle all sorts of problems.

Flexibility

In the initial days, a business may not require a large space and rich feature to support the website, as the business expanding, you may need new applications and service, therefore you need to upgrade your package. You need to find a hosting company who can offer you various hosting plan according to your business requirements.

Additional service

A reputed company will also provide additional service, such as, Security Socket Layer certificates, domain registering, website designing to ensure that the customer can enjoy a one-stop solution.

A robust infrastructure

Last but not least is the up-time issue. Although most web hosting services will offer you at least 99% up time, there are still a few out there offering less than that. Do not settle for a hosting service that cannot offer 99% up time guarantee. Only with high quality services that backed by powerful data center and cooling systems, you will not be interrupt by the performance issues of the server. Try to make sure that the servers are monitored 24/7 to avoid any possible external threats.

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Linux PHP Vs Windows ASP Web Hosting Comparison
By Darren W Chow

One of the first decisions to make while choosing web hosting is – what platform to opt for? Windows or Linux? PHP or ASP?

First of all, note that sites with static pages such as blogs can run on either Windows or Linux hosting platforms. These only use HTML and CSS, which are supported equally well by both operating systems.

When you require dynamic content on your website, such as eCommerce facilities, forums or other forms of scripting, then you need to pay attention to your hosting platform.

Traditionally, Linux servers are used for scripts based on PHP or Perl. These scripts include Wordpress, Drupal, Joomla and many other blogging or content management systems. Windows servers, on the contrary, are used with scripts written in ASP, ASP(dot)Net or Access. MySQL works equally well with both Windows and Linux. Today, cross-platform scripting – that is, scripting with PHP/Perl on Windows or with ASP/ASP(dot)NET/Access on Linux – is permitted by some ISPs.

However, cross-platform scripting will never give the smooth performance that a program does when run on its native platform – it is a bit like using emulators to run programs that are not native to the OS. There is one exception here, though – PHP runs equally well on Windows and Linux, so Linux-based hosting is no longer essential to run PHP-based scripts and applications.

Most computer geeks will advise you to go for Linux hosting, as Unix – on which Linux is based – is a far more secure and stable platform than Windows’ alternative. While this is demonstrably true – think of the millions of viruses for Windows systems, and the rare bug that crops up in Linux – it is also true that efficient server administration can render a Windows system as secure as a Linux one.

Speedwise, there is no clear winner between Windows and Linux. Some things work faster on Windows, while others work faster on Linux. So to choose between operating systems, cost and security would have to be the deciding factors. Linux here is substantially cheaper, as it is an open-source system, and most of its applications are also under GNU public licenses – in other words, free. Windows hosting comes with the added cost of the OS, and certain applications that the hosting company has to continually pay for.

As for the ASP-PHP comparison, ASP is almost universally the winner where speed is concerned. However, the learning curve in ASP or ASP(dot)NET is much steeper than in PHP – something that can backfire for advanced users looking for greater control and freedom. PHP, however, is still one of the most popular scripts around thanks to its versatility and the solid, useful applications being written using it.

In the end, choosing between Windows ASP and Linux PHP as hosting platforms becomes a matter of individual preference and contingent need. Depending on your budget, security concerns and familiarity with the computer language, you can pick either of them and successfully run a dynamic website for a long time to come.

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