Hey Cate --
I'm not sure what the job market looks like down in Tallahassee, but up here in the Triangle I'd say these skills would have nearly a 50/50 percent opportunity (maybe 60% PHP based on the type of mail I receive) of finding work.
In terms of MS development, most openings I see are looking for VBScript skills *or* .NET skills. vb.net must be the new cycle of vb moved to the .NET platform, so staying current with the upshift of MS would be a good idea. I really cannot argue the benefits of vb.net development, as I am quite unfamiliar with it, but learning it could definitely provide your students with future job competitiveness.
MS as a platform is ubiquitous. Whether one needs to program specifically for/on that platform is still an open question. The limitations to MS development (primarily server/OS platforms and portability issues) should be apparent to anyone following technology over the past decade or so. But, just cause they're essentially crippled doesn't mean they are going away anytime soon.
The benefits of learning PHP are much easier to enumerate.
00. Open Source development experience.
01. Works with the best of breed database and web servers (mysql, postgresql, and apache to name a few).
02. Similar enough to perl to allow for cross-language learning.
03. There are plug-ins and components out the wazoo. Not to mention full-blown CMSes and other group tools being actively developed (and freely available, in most cases).
04. The job market for these skills is expanding rapidly, especially as shops begin to realize the power, flexibility, customization, and code re-use involved.
If I had to pick one, it would be PHP. However, I would suggest changing the lesson plan to examine both languages with the students. Get two texts and teach them side-by-side with recurring attention to the broader perspective of 'programming principals.' Provide the students with initial exposure to the two styles and assist them in determining which path they would choose for further study.
Just a thought, dave m.
On Apr 28, 2005, at 3:04 PM, Cate Serino wrote:
Hi Trilug members,
Let me begin that, I am a instructor and want to prepare my students in
the best way for the market place. I have the opprotunity to teach
either VB.net or PHP. Any thoughts on either platform. I know that I am
speaking to a bias crowd, but please keep you comments to your thoughts
about the market place. Meaning do you think that the positions in
either PHP or vb.net will grow. Also any recomendations for books for
PHP. Any help would be great.
Many thanks,
Cate Serino
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