PHP programmers are not idiots (and PHP rocks!)

PHP is currently the de facto web programming language of the internet that, from very humble beginnings, has risen to the height and eminence of being considered the worlds most popular and beloved web programming language.

The beauty of PHP lies in its simplicity and its power - it is a very simple language for beginners and is easier to learn than similar scripting languages such as Perl, but is just as, if not more powerful, than Perl and it comes with a broad array of inbuilt library functions, modules and extensions. There are an unlimited number of resources and avenues for help and support for PHP on the web and the manual is a joy to read, with the comments featuring on their pages being a goldmine of inspiration.

But what is its strength is seen as its greatest weakness in some people's eyes. Since it is so easy to learn, employers and nerds believe any fool can learn it and thus are unable to differentiate the goof from the gifted. But why does it have to be this way? Why should a developer need to put himself at a disadvantage by learning a difficult-to-learn-and-use programming language or a language limited to a single platform?

If languages were likened to paints and oils and PHP was likened to water color paint, would you call a John Constable water color a piece of crap and compare it to a five year-old's water color attempt? You wouldn't, but so many people do this because they think that if a novice can make something using it then it must be a poor medium but that view is just ignorant.

Do people wonder why PHP is so easy to learn? Have you ever spent time comparing the Java and PHP manuals? Reading the Java manual is like trying to find a flashlight in your garage in the middle of the night - it'll take you ages to find it (if you ever find it) and then you discover the batteries have run out and then you have to try out old batteries. The PHP manual, in stark contrast, is like knowing the location of the flashlight and finding it in daylight, and finding it with working batteries and a guide book next to it. Yes that's a poor analogy, but that's how it is, truly! Will someone please save us poor Java programmers and make a PHP-style Java Manual?!

The next problem is the language and platform war. Us Java and PHP programmers are platform agnostic (although we 'slightly' lean towards Unix/Linux) and we work well on almost any system, but the odd one out is Mr (I'm so high and mighty) .NET who only runs on Windows and is closed-source. But yet, the most popular language in the business sector is .NET using VB.NET and C# especially. I've nothing against C# as a language but why o' why do employers feel the need to limit their applications to a single, non-free, non-transferable platform? Why use a language that locks you in to a set of tools and a single platform? I don't get it.

Then there's the issue of the complexity of the languages themselves. PHP can be likened to Perl in its syntax and thus requires few lines to get things done and quickly, but PHP has more library methods, is easier and less cryptic to write, may use fewer lines and has good OOP features. PHP is like Perl's younger, more intelligent and more attractive sister. If you're currently banging away at Perl, you should turn over to PHP; Bioinformaticians, PHP is better and more poweful than Perl, please switch over!

And what about getting things done quickly and easily? Everyone who has tried to program Java knows it's not child's play but they can write decent programs although it takes a little longer and there are far more lines of code, but have you ever tried to do Java Enterprise Edition lately? Jesus! Hello World became Hello Universe! Not only are there very few tutorials, books and resources, but the concepts used to build the applications are numerous, difficult to grasp initially and are badly explained in introductory texts. The hardest part of learning a language is the beginning but Java EE 'takes the mick'. Do they want anyone to learn to build Java web apps? There's a reason why there is no "Idiot's guide to Java EE" book, and that's because you need to be a genius to figure it out.

From every which way you look at it, PHP seems to be the best choice as far as easy learning, fast development, less coding, more tools, more resources, platform independent, open-source solutions and more support goes. It's really a no-brainer why PHP is so popular, but it is unfair to discriminate against a developer for choosing it as their main language and loving it for all those reasons. PHP, as a tool, can be used very badly to write atrocious code but it can be used masterfully to produce a masterpiece. People sometimes forget that huge and corporate sites like Yahoo! run using PHP, that Wikipedia and almost all the major blog platforms run on it - it's not a simple toy and its developers aren't idiots, so we'd appreciate it if you didn't discriminate against us! [And give us jobs and paid us more ;) ]

By Ahmad Retha

Multiple Sclerosis drug trial results look promising

Oral drugs to treat multiple sclerosis could become available in 2011 after promising results in two trials.

Drug licences have been applied for and the MS Society said it was "great news" for people with MS - current treatments involve injections or infusions.

The trials of the drugs each involved 1,000 people in over 18 countries, the New England Journal of Medicine says.

Cladribine and fingolimod, which come as tablets, cut relapse rates by 50-60% over two years compared with placebos.

Fingolimod was also tested against the widely used injection, beta interferon 1a. The trial showed the new drug was twice as effective in reducing the number of relapses over a year.

The evidence is now there and we will be working with the relevant authorities to make sure those who will benefit can get access Dr Doug Brown, Biomedical Research Manager at the MS Society

Multiple sclerosis is the most common disabling neurological disorder affecting young adults. It affects more than 100,000 people in the UK and 2.5 million worldwide.

Symptoms include mobility problems, lack of bladder and bowel control and and blurred vision.

The downside of current treatments is that they have to be injected or given by infusion.

MS sufferers have long hoped a pill would be developed. Pharmaceutical companies have been competing to get there first.

More choice

Dr Doug Brown, Biomedical Research Manager at the MS Society, said: "This is great news for people with MS and signifies a shifting tide in the treatment of the condition.

"Availability of oral therapies will give people greater choice and being able to take a tablet instead of unpleasant injections will come as welcome relief.

"The evidence is now there and we will be working with the relevant authorities to make sure those who will benefit can get access."

Doctors have also welcomed the studies.

Dr Belinda Weller, a consultant neurologist based in Edinburgh who specialises in MS, said the findings are "very significant" and indicated "a big breakthrough".

"This is the first major advance in MS therapy for a few years," she said. "I hope the drugs will soon be licensed."

But she expressed concerns both about possible side effects - which the trials suggested could include an increased risk of herpes and cancer - and that the new drugs could push up the cost of treating MS.

"More patients are likely to want to use these new drugs," she said. "Some people shun the currently available treatments because of the need to inject. This could put pressure on hospital budgets."

The MS Society called on the drug companies to price the drugs reasonably.

"The evidence is now here and we hope to see the pharmaceutical companies price these drugs responsibly so they can be made available to people with MS."

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/8470138.stm

Isisaurus - that's one wierd looking dinosaur

I was following a hyperlink trail trying to find out about Thuggees after watching the movie "The Deceivers" starring Pierce Brosnan and I came across this dinosaur. The movie is entertaining but it's a bit odd that no one figures out Brosnan is not an Indian, doesn't look Indian, is browning-up with make-up, has a dodgy accent (I expect), and doesn't get punished for aiding and taking part in the murder of innocent people alongside the Thuggees. It's a fictional film but has some grounding in historical fact - the Thuggees did exist and there was a British army leader, William Henry Sleeman, who was commisioned to route out the cult.

So where's the link between Thuggees and Isisaurus you ask? Apparently, while on his mission of trying to disover buried corpses, Sleeman came across a hill where he dug up petrified tree remains and discovered fossils which he sent to the Indian museum in Calcutta (now called Kolkata). Some British scientist called this new unidentified species Titanosaurus (Titanic Lizard) which was a silly name, so in 2004 they decided to rename it Isisaurus. Wikying isisaurus I came across this artists' depiction of the dinosaur.


What a ridiculous looking dinosaur. At first look it reminded me of a giraffe because the neck was disproportionately long, but it look thicked and muscular like a horses. I wouldn't be surprised if this dinosaur used its neck to fight with! (Youtube: giraffe fighting)

Then I looked at its front legs and it reminded me of a chimps arms! Man are they wierd! Both front and back limbs look quite long. The front limbs are like our arms and flex forward, compared with say a horses legs, which flex towards the back. This is not a great configuration for running - when your front arms bend like this > and your back legs bend like this <, you'd have to adapt your canter to stop the elbows meeting >< - you try running on all fours. The artists depiction makes it look like it had fingers but evidence suggests otherwise.

If this dinosaur did exist (I'm half-starting to suspect this is some sort of comical, elaborate hoax), then it would have used its back legs to stand up on, while using its front arms to grab the trunk of a tree to balance itself and extending its neck into the high branches of a tree to eat the leaves. Notice the horizontal orientation of its neck? It doesn't seem to have bent its neck much to reach up into the trees so that's why it would have stood up on its hind legs to reach leaves. I suspect it also had some tree-climbing abilities but won't extend that to swinging in the tree tops from branch to branch! lol! What a sight that would be considering it weighed around 15 tons! It would have tried pulling itself up the trunk a bit to reach further.

Once again, what a weird looking dino.

Edit: just found this: http://qilong.8m.com/Titanosaurus_colberti.html