Survey: Is you filePro application online?

[Fairlight]

On Tue, May 26, 2009 at 09:14:19PM -0400, Jose Lerebours, the prominent pundit,
witicized:
> If you wish, you can reply OFF LIST. 

Nah.  Although "looking for fP<->web integration work" would have been more
direct an approach, Jose.  :)

> Q. Do you need to develop/integrate your filePro application with web 
> presence?

I don't personally.  I've had clients that have needed to and continue to
need to.

> Q. If already pushing filePro to web, are you looking for alternatives? 

Negative.

> Q. What are you using to push filePro to web?

OneGate.  http://www.fairlite.com/fc/products/onegate/

> Q. In a scale 1 - 10, how does your web based server side scripting rank?

Out of an absolute score?  9.5.  There are some things I'd like to add in
a version 5.x that I think would be great additions.  There's a bit of
room for addition, but I've actually run out of ideas for things to put in
without just bloating it for the hell of it, other than about 5-6 ideas
I've got in mind and wrote down a year ago.  I'd almost say a 5.x release
might be the last major revision I need until something supplants AJAX
technologies.  Assuming I ever get around to writing and releasing it.
Like I said, there are things that even I think would be handy, but there's
nothing critically missing at present, either.

For a score relative to what's out there, probably 9.9 if we're talking
about the core technology at the low level.  I've got the features,
stability, scalability, and most importantly--security. 

fPageBuilder by STN would be the first thing I'd look at on the high level,
and it rides on top of OneGate, so I know its low-end is covered.

> Q. If you knew how, would you use PHP with your filePro application?  If 
> not, Why?

Absolutely not.  "Cold day in hell," comes to mind.  I don't like the
"design" (if you can call it that...I'm often skeptical) of the
architecture.  It also tends to be the AOL of web languages, in that it's
so simple just about every idiot thinks they can do it--and too many do.
I've seen domestic PHP code that makes Perl code coming out of the Ukraine
look -sane-, and that's saying something.

PHP may be the most popular out there currently, but the numbers simply
speak to its attainability.  There are other numbers, like the sheer volume
of core PHP security holes, as well as the plethora of application-based
PHP app security holes that make the SANS security digest -every single
week- in an overwhelming majority.  I'd guess that PHP-related issues end
up taking up a good 60-70% of some of the digests.  Considering those
digests cover all major platforms, networks, devices, applications, etc.,
this is a disheartening figure.  It's also a testament to what I consider
inattention to security by the PHP design team--the numbers should probably
be high due to its popularity, but it shouldn't outweigh Windows bugs by
a significant margin, as Windows actually has significantly higher volume
of deployment.  And yet, it does often seem to outweigh both Windows and
Windows-based application security alerts combined, more often than is
reasonable.

> Q. Would you be willing to pay for the right solution?

I don't usually need to pay for solutions.  I provide them.

> Q. Would you like to see what PHP + filePro looks like online?

I have, and I haven't been horribly impressed.

Bear in mind, I've been doing the web interface gig since 1994 on the CERN
httpd, and then on NCSA 1.0 and 1.1 before even Apache existed, before LAMP
was an acronym, and well before PHP came onto the scene.  I don't impress
easily in this area.  I don't actually think PHP brings anything terribly
new to the table other than its associated problems.

> Q. How long do you think it may take to do something you need done?

That's so nebulous and variable-dependant that it doesn't deserve to be
dignified with a response, even were I a prospective customer.

> Q. Which do you think would be best for you PERL, PHP, PYTHON, .NET or 
> OTHER (________)?

Perl is my tool of choice.  Python has impressed me by the weight of the
words of known-trustworthy developers that have spoken up about it, as well
as its deployment in high-powered scalable solutions (EVE Online comes to
mind as one example of -extreme- scalability), so I'd take that as a second
if I had to learn a new language.  PHP would be the last tool of choice.
You're just kidding about .NET, right?  I mean...you can't be serious...

mark->
-- 
"I'm not subtle. I'm not pretty, and I'll piss off a lot of people along
the way. But I'll get the job done" --Captain Matthew Gideon, "Crusade"