Re: Best Procedural Language? - Mailing list pgsql-general

Carlo Stonebanks wrote:
> > plPHP is not as mature as plTcl (or is that plTclng). However it is very
> > well developed and maintained. Heck, companies are even holding talks and
> > training classes on it now.
>
> What is lacking in plPHP? To be honest, even though I am a Tcl developer I
> would rather develop in PHP, and I know next to NOTHING about PHP!
>
> The thing is that Tcl leaves a bad taste in a lot of programmer's mouths -
> and I can't blame them. PHP looks and behaves like a "normal" programming
> language, so there's more likelyhood that other programmers will be able to
> maintain my code. (Imagine that - a developer worrying about how the NEXT
> developer will maintain his code! Think the idea will catch on?)
>
> I couldn't find a recent release of plPHP, and have no idea of its status.

It sort of works if your platform is not too deviated from the
mainstream Linux stuff (i.e. you're not using threaded PHP for example),
and you avoid the stuff that we know cause server crashes.  Also, array
handling is very suboptimal -- it works for the simplest cases but fails
if you get too clever (where "too clever" is not really very clever).
There are probably other buggy areas I forget.

I would suggest you to report the bugs you find, of which there will be
plenty, but on the other hand it will be a waste of your time because
there aren't any development resources devoted to it currently.

I haven't measured performance at all.

Oh, and it's called PL/php, not plPHP.

In short, I suggest you look at PL/Perl.  It is also a "normal"
programming language.


Joshua Drake wrote:

> > However it is very well developed and maintained.

I disagree.  And I was the maintainer last time I checked, so you'd say
my opinion carries some weight.

> > Heck, companies are even holding talks and training classes on it
> > now.

Companies are run merely to make money.  The fact that some of them make
money by training people to use broken products does not make the
products any less broken.  While I am happy that people use PL/php, I
would be much happier if it wasn't broken.

--
Alvaro Herrera                                http://www.CommandPrompt.com/
The PostgreSQL Company - Command Prompt, Inc.