With so many operating systems and content management systems, it is not surprising that there are also competing types of coding. And companies do not just want any coder. Gone are the days when a .NET developer or PHP coder fit the bill, now companies need a Joomla developer or WordPress “Guru.” Oracle “Masters” and Ruby on Rails “Experts” are also being sought.
What the heck is the difference?
NET
Microsoft .NET is the framework used by Microsoft Windows operating systems. The .NET Framework (not be confused with the .net domain), houses a library used by programmers. Programmers combine their own code with the Base Class Library to create applications. The library supports a number of programming languages so developers can combine code written in other languages with their own to create applications.
The environment .NET programs are executed in is called the CLR, or Common Language Runtime. This is a virtual environment freeing programmers from the constraints of an individual computer’s hardware.
Ruby on Rails
Ruby on Rails is also an open source web application framework; however, it is designed specifically for the Ruby programming language.
PHP
PHP is a free, all-purpose code created for web development. The scripting language is embedded into an HTML source document which is interpreted by a web server to generate a web page. PHP code can be written for most operating systems and used as a stand-alone language. PHP is used by Joomla developers and WordPress gurus.
Joomla and WordPress
Joomla and WordPress are free, open-source content management systems powered PHP and used to publish content across the Internet and on intranets. Both systems use MySQL for data storage and object-oriented programming.
Oracle
In this case, Oracle refers to the Oracle Database, an object-relational database management system. Oracle can run on a number of platforms including, Windows, Linux and Mac. Oracle’s proprietary version of SQL, PL/SQL, and Java can both be used to write programs for Oracle.