May 20, 2005 Views (6,904) /  Comments (1) /  Trackback (0) / Digg/Share

Oracle and PHP tools maker Zend Technologies are set enhance open source PHP development on Oracle databases via a free package called Zend Core for Oracle.

It’s due sometime later this year (Q3, apparently) but simply put it will provide integration between the Oracle database and Zend’s PHP environment. Oracle Technology Network will make it available, but Zend will sell related support services.

PHP is building momentum as a development paradigm and possible alternative to Java and Microsoft’s .Net, although the technology could be used in mixed application environments. PHP of course is already widely used as a part of the OS application stack dubbed LAMP (Linux, Apache, MySQL, and Perl/PHP/Python).

So what’s new that we cannot already do?

Of course PHP already provides Oracle access through functions but Zend Core is intended to streamline PHP development on Oracle’s database.

Which one: Zend PHP, Java, or .Net?

To oversimplify, PHP is designed from the bottom up to be for the Web, is free, and fast to pick up (and yes, very elegant OOP is possible through PHP if one needs so it’s not a hacker’s bastion anymore.) Java and its coterie of development tools and platforms are more suited for heavy-duty transactional applications. MS’ DotNet is geared specifically toward Windows shops.

Zend’s relationship with Oracle follows a similar arrangement Zend made recently with IBM, said Stephen O’Grady, a senior analyst at RedMonk. “I think [the Zend-Oracle announcement] certainly continues in that vein,” he said.

Someone’s active!

Well, guess what. IBM and Zend announced integration between Zend’s PHP environment and the IBM Cloudscape and DB2 Universal Database platforms too, so Oracle is not the first stop for Zend.

One hopes this will mean enterprise time for PHP. To those who believe PHP is a low-level scripting language to hack something together in, take a look at the entire Zend platform. It’s shaping up very well.

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