[Za-pm] Databases & Perl

Anne Wainwright aesop at fables.co.za
Tue May 13 03:38:07 PDT 2008


Hi,

A ramble of a know nothing, for comment and suggestions.

Bear in mind that apart from my dos database I am fairly competant with 
Paradox. For the uninitiated, this Windows app was originally from Borland, 
later from Corel, and provides a database with integrated design 
environment where you can add your buttons and tables etc to a form and 
then add code to those objects to make it go the way you want. Far more 
powerful than Excel was. Design of forms and reports is a snap.

Now realising that even Paradox's time has come with it on the back burner 
at Corel and perhaps not likely to survive many more M$ operating system 
upgrades, the thought to migrate to something like mySQL has been in my 
mind as the ultimate way out to freedom from M$.

I see and note that Perl has many modules and features designed to enable 
it to work with an sql type database. The questions in my mind revolve 
around some complex applications that I have created in Paradox. Am I going 
to have to create them with a much lower level language than I am used to? 
Paradox's ObjectPal provides a fully integrated development environment 
where you drag and drop and add some code to the objects already dragged, 
sized, coloured, and dropped.

Further confusion because so much of what I read (well, scan) on sql 
databases refers to their use for internet applications and how to view the 
data through your browser. Has Perl passed its sell-by date in this field? 
Other languages such as php and many others appear to hog the limelight in 
this field. Is this now the de facto way to interface with a database - via 
a browser that perhaps dispenses with the whole procedure to create a full 
application interface? Is PHP and your browser the quick and easy way even 
if you are only using the application on your own intranet (mine has 4 
machines at the most) and not over the internet?

I am wondering which path to slowly follow. Maybe I should investigate 
things like Firebird database which seems to offer an already established 
graphical interface and forget working from the ground up with Perl.

As you can see I am lost in the desert here. Any comments on how the ground 
is laid out these days and which path I should take are most welcome. 
Rather post to the list as my email client will handle these automagically 
for me.

Thanks
Anne
----
Anne Wainwright



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