Upcoming PHP release will offer Unicode support (Linux.com) [LWN.net]

Upcoming PHP release will offer Unicode support (Linux.com)

Posted Mar 2, 2007 16:42 UTC (Fri) by frazier (subscriber, #3060)
In reply to: Upcoming PHP release will offer Unicode support (Linux.com) by tekNico
Parent article: Upcoming PHP release will offer Unicode support (Linux.com)

I really like PHP. Most of the security problems have been on the program ends (phpBB comes to mind). Sure, the systems by default were asking for people to write insecure code (especially with variable handling) but if you have an idea what you're doing, PHP lets you get it done with lots of advantages:

1. Tons of available code that does what you need or something really close. I find that too much to compare is a common problem. There's that much free code out there. I like that if you find something that does 95% of what you want you can mod it out to taste. Some of it is total crap, but you take a look at it and run away! You at least got to see the code and know you were looking at trash.

2. Built for purpose. Doesn't take a lot of code to get things done. Sending an email is a one liner. Less code is quicker to develop and I find at least in my instance easier to maintain.

3. Lots of hosting options. I many times don't even need a dedicated server. I like maintainence and redundant connections/power that you get from a data center. PHP has this behind it. Oh, and it is CHEAP!

4. On a personal level, I have lots of hours in PHP so I have a reasonable grasp of how to get things done with it quickly.

5. It's pretty easy to have a local instance running on Windows if you need it. I only had one computer at my last job and it was Windows (for photoshop) and I could run PHP on it. (Worth noting, I don't do this at home. I'll have a dedicated server at home.)

...and that's off the top of my head.

PHP lets you get things done quickly and inexpensively with lots of flexibility. It's not so bad.

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Upcoming PHP release will offer Unicode support (Linux.com)

Posted Mar 2, 2007 18:31 UTC (Fri) by job (guest, #670) [Link]

While I'm sure you like PHP for a multitude of reasons, it's not really fair to blame the security problems solely on the program end. PHP has had an important security update in PHP itself a couple of times per year, for many years now. That's about as bad as sendmail ever was.

Upcoming PHP release will offer Unicode support (Linux.com)

Posted Mar 2, 2007 20:42 UTC (Fri) by frazier (subscriber, #3060) [Link]

I'm not seeing the volume of security bulletins over the wire like sendmail had some years back, but yes, there's been a number of them. Using managed servers lessens the inconvenience to me since I don't have to worry about performing those updates myself.

Maybe PHP will turn a corner like sendmail did. Beats me.

I do know that if I need a web site done in a hurry (and that's pretty much a given) PHP is what I grab for.

-Brock

Upcoming PHP release will offer Unicode support (Linux.com)

Posted Mar 4, 2007 9:02 UTC (Sun) by job (guest, #670) [Link]

I don't know where you look, but look at the last release, 5.2.1. There are several fixes for unrelated security issues. Running 5.2.0 obviously left your machine wide open. Then look at the previous release, 5.2.0. Security fixes there as well. And they are not always marked as security fixes in the changelog, which angers me as well, that's not serious behavior from a vendor.

Upcoming PHP release will offer Unicode support (Linux.com)

Posted Mar 2, 2007 20:47 UTC (Fri) by bronson (subscriber, #4806) [Link]

And Register Globals and Magic Quotes never should have seen the light of day. The number of web sites defaced by these misfeatures is just staggering. Yes, every time this happens it's technically the programmer's fault. But PHP really shouldn't make it so easy for the programmer to screw up!

Thankfully these will eventually be banished in a new major release. PHP is slowly getting saner as it evolves.