goba Sat Nov 10 06:57:07 2001 EDT
Modified files:
/phpdoc/en preface.xml
/phpdoc/en/chapters intro.xml
Log:
So, PHP can do much more, not just some databases and
protocols :) Expanding the What can do? section with information
on using fields, operating systems, servers, and many extensions.
Please someone read through and correct my English language...
Do not translate, modifications are coming (for example an
expanded version of the history section I hope, with some actual
information).
Index: phpdoc/en/preface.xml
diff -u phpdoc/en/preface.xml:1.16 phpdoc/en/preface.xml:1.17
--- phpdoc/en/preface.xml:1.16 Sun Oct 14 09:27:05 2001
+++ phpdoc/en/preface.xml Sat Nov 10 06:57:06 2001
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
<?xml encoding="iso-8859-1"?>
-<!-- $Revision: 1.16 $ -->
+<!-- $Revision: 1.17 $ -->
<preface id="preface">
<title>Preface</title>
@@ -7,18 +7,12 @@
<abstract>
<simpara>
<acronym>PHP</acronym>, which stands for "PHP: Hypertext
- Preprocessor", is an HTML-embedded scripting language. Much
- of its syntax is borrowed from C, Java and Perl with some
- unique features thrown in. The goal of the language
- is to allow web developers to write dynamically generated pages
- quickly.
- </simpara>
- <simpara>
- Note, that PHP is not only a "Hypertext Preprocessor" today. You
- can generate images, PDF files or even Flash animations on the
- fly with simple PHP scripts. Also check
- <ulink url="&url.php.gtk;">PHP-GTK</ulink> to see, that
- PHP can be used to write client-side GUI applications.
+ Preprocessor", is an open-source HTML-embedded scripting
+ language. Much of its syntax is borrowed from C, Java and
+ Perl with some unique features thrown in. The main goal of
+ the language is to allow web developers to write dynamically
+ generated pages quickly. You can do many more with PHP. Read
+ on, and see.
</simpara>
</abstract>
@@ -28,7 +22,7 @@
This manual is written in <acronym>XML</acronym> using the <ulink
url="&url.docbook.xml;">DocBook XML DTD</ulink>, using <ulink
url="&url.dsssl;"><acronym>DSSSL</acronym></ulink> (Document
- Style and Semantics Specification Language) for formatting. The
+ Style and Semantics Specification Language) for formatting. The
tools used for formatting <acronym>HTML</acronym> and
<acronym>TeX</acronym> versions are
<ulink url="&url.jade;">Jade</ulink>, written by <ulink
@@ -36,14 +30,15 @@
url="&url.dbstyle;">The Modular DocBook Stylesheets</ulink>
written by <ulink url="&url.nwalsh;">Norman Walsh</ulink>.
We use <ulink url="&url.winhelp;">Microsoft HTML Help Workshop</ulink>
- to generate the WinHelp format of the manual.
+ to generate the Windows HTML Help format of the manual.
</para>
<para>
You can download the actual manual in various languages and
formats, including plain text, plain <acronym>HTML</acronym>,
<acronym>PDF</acronym>, PalmPilot DOC, PalmPilot iSilo and
- WinHelp, from <ulink url="&url.php.docs;">&url.php.docs;</ulink>.
- The manuals are updated daily.
+ Windows HTML Help, from
+ <ulink url="&url.php.docs;">&url.php.docs;</ulink>.
+ The manuals are updated as the source XMLs are changing.
</para>
<para>
You can find more information about downloading the
@@ -57,7 +52,8 @@
<ulink url="&url.php.bugs;">&url.php.bugs;</ulink>, and classify
them as "Documentation Problem". This way we can follow every
bug and track the things done to eliminate them from the
- documentation.
+ documentation. Do not submit bug reports, or suggested
+ additions using the annotation system.
</para>
</sect1>
Index: phpdoc/en/chapters/intro.xml
diff -u phpdoc/en/chapters/intro.xml:1.20 phpdoc/en/chapters/intro.xml:1.21
--- phpdoc/en/chapters/intro.xml:1.20 Fri Nov 9 10:48:11 2001
+++ phpdoc/en/chapters/intro.xml Sat Nov 10 06:57:06 2001
@@ -1,14 +1,14 @@
<?xml encoding="iso-8859-1"?>
-<!-- $Revision: 1.20 $ -->
+<!-- $Revision: 1.21 $ -->
<chapter id="introduction">
<title>Introduction</title>
<sect1 id="intro-whatis">
<title>What is PHP?</title>
- <simpara>
- PHP (officially "PHP: Hypertext Preprocessor") is a server-side
- HTML-embedded scripting language.
- </simpara>
+ <para>
+ PHP (recursive acronym for "PHP: Hypertext Preprocessor")
+ is an open-source server-side HTML-embedded scripting language.
+ </para>
<para>
Simple answer, but what does that mean? An example:
</para>
@@ -22,11 +22,11 @@
<title>Example</title>
</head>
<body>
-
+
<?php
echo "Hi, I'm a PHP script!";
?>
-
+
</body>
</html>
]]>
@@ -34,16 +34,16 @@
</example>
</para>
<para>
- Notice how this is different from a CGI script written in other
+ Notice how this is different from a script written in other
languages like Perl or C -- instead of writing a program with lots
- of commands to output HTML, you write an HTML script with a some
+ of commands to output HTML, you write an HTML script with some
embedded code to do something (in this case, output some
text). The PHP code is enclosed in special <link
linkend="language.basic-syntax.phpmode">start and end tags</link>
- that allow you to jump into and out of PHP mode.
+ that allow you to jump into and out of "PHP mode".
</para>
<para>
- What distinguishes PHP from something like client-side Javascript
+ What distinguishes PHP from something like client-side JavaScript
is that the code is executed on the server. If you were to have a
script similar to the above on your server, the client would receive
the results of running that script, with no way of determining what
@@ -51,19 +51,108 @@
to process all your HTML files with PHP, and then there's really no
way that users can tell what you have up your sleeve.
</para>
+ <para>
+ The best things in using PHP is that it is extremely simple
+ for a newcomer, but offers many advanced features for
+ a professional programmer. Don't be afraid reading the long
+ list of PHP's features. You can jump in a short time, and
+ start writing simple scripts in hours.
+ </para>
+ <para>
+ Although PHP's development is focused on server-side scripting,
+ you can do much more with it. Read on, and see more in the
+ <link linkend="intro-whatcando">What can PHP do?</link> section.
+ </para>
</sect1>
<sect1 id="intro-whatcando">
<title>What can PHP do?</title>
<para>
- At the most basic level, PHP can do anything any other CGI
- program can do, such as collect form data, generate dynamic
- page content, or send and receive cookies.
+ Anything. PHP is mainly focused on server-side scripting,
+ so you can do anything any other CGI program can do, such
+ as collect form data, generate dynamic page content, or
+ send and receive cookies. But PHP can do much more.
+ </para>
+ <para>
+ There are three main fields where PHP scripts are used.
+ <itemizedlist>
+ <listitem>
+ <simpara>
+ Server-side scripting. This is the most traditional
+ and main target field for PHP. You need three things
+ to make this work. The PHP parser (CGI or server
+ module), a webserver and a web browser. You need to
+ run the webserver, with a connected PHP installation.
+ You can access the PHP program output with a web browser,
+ viewing the PHP page through the server. See the
+ <link linkend="installation">installation instructions</link>
+ section for more information.
+ </simpara>
+ </listitem>
+ <listitem>
+ <simpara>
+ Command line scripting. You can make a PHP script
+ to run it without any server and any browser.
+ You only need the PHP parser to use it this way.
+ This type of usage is ideal for scripts regularly
+ executed using cron (task sheduler on Windows),
+ or simple text processing tasks. See the section about
+ <link linkend="commandline">Command line usage
+ of PHP</link> for more information.
+ </simpara>
+ </listitem>
+ <listitem>
+ <simpara>
+ Writing client-side GUI applications. PHP is probably
+ not the very best language to write windowing
+ applications, but if you know PHP very well, and
+ would like to use some advanced PHP features in
+ your client-side applications you can also use
+ PHP-GTK to write such programs. You also have the
+ ability to write cross-platform applications this way.
+ PHP-GTK is an extension to PHP, not available in
+ the main distribution. If you are interested
+ in PHP-GTK, visit <ulink url="&url.php.gtk;">it's
+ own website</ulink>.
+ </simpara>
+ </listitem>
+ </itemizedlist>
+ </para>
+ <para>
+ PHP can be used on all major operating systems, including
+ Linux, many Unix variants (including HP-UX, Solaris and OpenBSD),
+ Microsoft Windows, Mac OS X, RISC OS, and probably others.
+ PHP has also support for most of the servers today. This
+ includes Apache, Microsoft Internet Information Server,
+ Personal Web Server, Netscape and iPlanet servers, Oreilly
+ Website Pro server, Caudium, Xitami, OmniHTTPd, and many
+ others. For the majority of the servers PHP has a module,
+ for the others supporting the CGI standard, PHP can work
+ as a CGI processor.
+ </para>
+ <para>
+ So with PHP, you have the freedom of choosing an operating
+ system and a web server. Furthermore, you also have the choice
+ of using procedural programming or object oriented
+ programming, or a mixture of them. Although not every
+ standard OOP feature is realized in the current version
+ of PHP, many code libraries and large applications (including the
+ <link linkend="pear">PEAR library</link>) are written only
+ using OOP code.
+ </para>
+ <para>
+ With PHP you are not limited to output HTML. PHP's abilities
+ includes outputing images, PDF files and even Flash movies
+ (using libswf and Ming) generated on the fly. You can also
+ output easily any text, such as XHTML and any other XML file.
+ PHP can autogenerate these files, and save them in the file
+ system, instead of printing it out, forming a server-side
+ cache for your dynamic content.
</para>
<para>
- Perhaps the strongest and most significant feature in PHP is its
+ One of the strongest and most significant feature in PHP is its
support for a wide range of databases. Writing a database-enabled
- web page is incredibly simple. The following databases are currently
+ web page is incredibly simple. The following databases are currently
supported:
<blockquote>
<simplelist columns="3">
@@ -90,22 +179,50 @@
<member>Unix dbm</member>
</simplelist>
</blockquote>
+ We also have a DBX database abstraction extension allowing you
+ to transparently use any database supported by that extension.
+ We also have support for ODBC, the Open Database Connection
+ standard, so you can connect to any other database supporting
+ this world standard.
</para>
<para>
PHP also has support for talking to other services using protocols
- such as IMAP, SNMP, NNTP, POP3, HTTP and countless others. You can also
- open raw network sockets and interact using other protocols.
+ such as LDAP, IMAP, SNMP, NNTP, POP3, HTTP, COM (on Windows) and
+ countless others. You can also open raw network sockets and
+ interact using any other protocol. PHP has support for the WDDX
+ complex data exchange between virtually all Web programming
+ languages. Talking about interconnection, PHP has support for
+ instantiation of Java objects and using them transparently
+ as PHP objects. You can also use our CORBA extension to
+ access remote objects.
+ </para>
+ <para>
+ PHP has extremely useful text processing features, from the
+ POSIX Extended or Perl regular expressions to parsing XML
+ documents. For parsing and accessing XML documents, we
+ support the SAX and DOM standards. You can use our XSLT
+ extension to transform XML documents.
+ </para>
+ <para>
+ While using PHP in the ecommerce field, you'll find
+ the Cybercash payment, CyberMUT, Verysign Payflow
+ Pro and CCVS functions useful for your online payment
+ programs.
+ </para>
+ <para>
+ At last but not least, we have many other interesting
+ extensions, the mnoGoSearch search engine functions,
+ the IRC Gateway functions, many compression utilities
+ (gzip, bz2), calendar conversion, translation...
+ </para>
+ <para>
+ As you can see this page is not enough to list all
+ the features and benefits PHP can offer. Read on in
+ the sections about <link linkend="installation">installing
+ PHP</link>, and see the <link linkend="funcref">function
+ reference</link> part for explanation of the extensions
+ mentioned here.
</para>
-<!--
- <figure>
- <title>Internal Structure</title>
- <graphic fileref="../images/php3_internal_structure.gif"/>
- </figure>
- <figure>
- <title>Request Scheme</title>
- <graphic fileref="../images/php3_request_scheme.gif"/>
- </figure>
--->
</sect1>
<sect1 id="intro-history">
