Less than half of our meetings this year have covered Delphi (1 month on FinalBuilder, 1 month skipped, 1 month on Java, and 3 months on PHP), so I decided it would behoove us to finish out the year with an actual Delphi presentation. While trying to figure out what would be a good topic and who I might be able to get up on the platform, I happened across an interesting blog.
Due to the high interest in Content Management Systems (CMSs) and PHP scripting, we'll spend this month's meeting discussing them. There won't be a formal presentation, but there will be a laptop with a working copy of WAMP (Windows/Apache/MySQL/PHP) and at least Drupal and Joomla! loaded.
To get you started on a good discussion, here are some web sites for
reference you can browse beforehand:
In our continuing exploration on other programming langages and platforms, we cannot ignore Java. By using the JVM (Java Virtual Machine), the programmer can write once and run (almost) everywhere--at least more places than .NET can currently boast. Developers can write GUI client apps, enhance web pages, and build back-end server systems. Perhaps one of the more appealing aspects for Delphi Developers is the fact that Java is stronly typed and fully object-oriented.
This month, the topic will continue our exploration of PHP. Last month was an introduction, this month we'll get more advanced. The topic will largely be directed by the audience, but will try to at least touch on the following topics:
PHP - that's the P from LAMP - is essentially a scripting language used inside HTML code to build dynamic web pages. Tonight's talk will be an introduction to PHP. Examples of different coding structures will be given, presented from the perspective of what the PHP equivalent is to the familiar Delphi structures. To illustrate these concepts in a practical way we'll go through the steps to build a simple website for a small store. Along the way we'll also be touching on the A and M from LAMP - the Apache Web server and MySQL database.
If you didn't get your copy of FinalBuilder in February, come to the meeting in April to learn about setting up batch files with command-line compiler options to automate your build tasks. And even if you do have FinalBuilder, come anyway to learn how to use a free, but commercial-quality setup-building tool, InnoSetup.
FinalBuilder is a powerful Automated Build & Release Management tool which makes it easy for software developers to define and maintain a reliable and repeatable build process. FinalBuilder includes integration with version control systems, file and directory operations, iterators, source code compilers, testing tools, database systems, installation tools, as well as actions for deployment over the Internet and CD/DVD burning built in.
Don't forget we'd like to give away a free license of FinalBuilder 4 Professional worth $499 as a door prize.
PRESENTER:
Ed Dressel
There will be no "formal" presentation, but we'll have a couple of laptops available and at least one member will be showing an application that "takes various text files as input, formats them into PDF invoices, statements, etc. and delivers them via email or fax to the customer." We'd be interested to see what others are working on as well, so please come and share.
PRESENTER:
David Cornelius