Bill MacLean
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| Posted: 11/17/2004, 9:51 PM |
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I want to learn how to create db powered web apps, and I think CCS may be a good tool. My issue is how to best set up a development environment so I can properly evaluate CCS.
A little background:
- I know a lot about databases and database design
- I know very little about web applications
- I don't know HTML
- The last time I coded a front end was in the 2-tier days with PowerBuilder (about 1996).
- I will not use MySQL. (I don' wish to offend anyone or start a "religious war". I only bring up my dislike of MySQL because that's an important issue for my environment. My dev environment has to use another database).
- I've never used postgreSQL, but from the documention, it looks good to me. I feel pretty comfortable in Oracle and SQL Server as well.
- (Ignorance probably showing) When coding and testing database calls, do I need a local copy of the db? How do others work . Do you write against a local engine for development and then upload the code when tested?
- I want to learn PHP.
I'm trying to avoid having to learn the ins and outs of web servers and all that stuff while evaluating CCS. Is there a hosted solution where I can have a PostgreSQL instance? I don't want to spend a ton of money per month, because at this point my projects will not be commercial.
I need pretty explicit instructions on setting up the environment. I'm not clear about local coding, when to upload the code to the server, etc. I am hoping that somewhere out there is step by step guide that will tell me what to do.
I want to get the environment all ready to go so that when I get CCS I can concentrate on coding during the eval period. Then I can make a good choice about purchasing the product. I know that if I downloaded CCS right now, I would probably spend the whole 20 days trying to get the environment set up.
Any suggestions?
Thanks,
Mac
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Don Safar
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| Posted: 11/18/2004, 12:04 PM |
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You can learn most everything you need to know about CCS by developing on
your local machine. You can use IIS or apache as your web server. You can
use whatever database you wish (even access to get started). I have been
using CCS since it was in beta and Codecharge before that. My background in
programming goes back to the 1970's, starting with Assembler and Cobol. I
started playing with basic when it was just an interpreter and graduated to
full-blown multi-tier VB and Delphi in the middle 1990's. Before you
download the CCS evaluation, you might want to spend some time looking at
the PHP sample apps that can be downloaded from their website. I suggest
this because you have multiple learning curves (html, php, web programming
and CCS). We have a 75% off bookstore in our area (DFW) where no book is
over $5. If you have something like this, pick up some html and php
resources to get started. Once you fill confident with HTML and PHP, then
download the CCS product. In my opinion, if you try to learn it all in
parallel, I think you will get highly frustrated.
My advice is to allocate as many hours per week as you can to understanding
the CCS environment. I would highly recommend going through the tutorials as
well as reviewing the sample pack.
This forum is a good place to get CCS information, but too many folks use it
as a way to solve html or scripting language issues that could be solved by
googling. As a result, it is sometimes more difficult to find the answer to
your true CCS question. There are several CCS gurus that would probably
mentor you if you are willing to pay for their support. As for CCS, I
developed my first commercial application in about 30 days. It has about
67,000 lines of code and is written in PHP. Less than 4,000 of the app is
hand-coded (event code). Most of my effort was spent in loading content. The
actual coding process could be measured in days. You can view it at
http://www.cool-offers.com . This project was completed after a pretty
intensive effort to understand the CCS environment (30 days or so). I had
less than 2 years of light web development experience before learning CCS.
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