newbie questions...

[JariTapio]

Hei!

Im familiar with visual C++ but not with PHP...

so my questions follow...
are there any good PHP compilers...
if ya wanna make a 'good' homepage is PHP right language for image
animations and small games...
are there good functions for graphics in PHP...
how does the computer reads PHP code where does it start reading is
there some MAIN function or what...
so many other questions if there is somethin U think I should know
please write to me...

Yours : JariTapio / Helsinki Finnland

[Geir Eivind Mork]

JariTapio wrote:

> so my questions follow...
> are there any good PHP compilers...

[url]http://www.php.net/[/url]
PHP isn't a compiled langauge.

> if ya wanna make a 'good' homepage is PHP right language for image
> animations and small games...

I would think flash and actionscript is more what you are seeking. PHP
gives you the 'power' to dynamically create content (most likely html)
on the fly. If

> are there good functions for graphics in PHP...

You have some:
[url]http://no2.php.net/image/[/url]

but i assume it's not actually what you are looking for. still, you've
misunderstood web as a development target.

> how does the computer reads PHP code where does it start reading is
> there some MAIN function or what...

starts from the first <?php and works it day down. ;)

> so many other questions if there is somethin U think I should know
> please write to me...

You could please yourself by reading the manual. ;) everything else is
just wasting everybodys time.

--
Geir Eivind Mork - Bodoe / Norway

[Eric Kincl]

JariTapio wrote:

> so many other questions if there is somethin U think I should know
> please write to me...

RTFM

Find a tutorial... there tons out there... thats how I got hooked...


-Eric Kincl

[Terence]

JariTapio wrote:

> Hei!
>
> Im familiar with visual C++ but not with PHP...
>
> so my questions follow...
> are there any good PHP compilers...
> if ya wanna make a 'good' homepage is PHP right language for image
> animations and small games...
> are there good functions for graphics in PHP...
> how does the computer reads PHP code where does it start reading is
> there some MAIN function or what...
> so many other questions if there is somethin U think I should know
> please write to me...
>
> Yours : JariTapio / Helsinki Finnland
>
>
>

This is gonna hurt :)

You cannot interact directly with PHP in your web browser because PHP is
on the web-server only. This means that all the browser's interactions
with PHP must go over HTTP (using a HTTP GET or HTTP POST request). This
is a pain because HTTP is a connectionless protocol. That is, no
connection is established to transfer data -- either side just sends a
packet (HTML + HTTP headers) and "hopes" that the other side got it. For
instance, if a browser sends a request, there is no connection, so it
has to wait for a response and fall-back after a timeout in the event
the request was not recieved or the response did not return.
Connectionless interactions don't allow sessions to "persist". Web
programming technologies have to come up with nasty work-arounds to
emulate persistance -- and all of these are based on timeouts.
All of these issues are not specific to any particular web server
language (Java Servlets, ASP.NET, Cold Fusion or PHP), they are issues
of the web and HTTP.

So there goes your idea about writing interactive games in PHP. If you
do, they will incur the request/response latency of HTTP, this will
limit your options severely.

If you want stuff that runs in your browser, then Flash, Java Applets,
MS Active-X controls are the way to do it. Blender has specialised
technology (browser plugin) for creating games that run in a web page.

If you haven't heard of Blender, be prepared to be seriously impressed.
[url]http://www.blender3d.com/[/url]