Digi Skills Agency

You are here: Home / Archives for platform

platform

Software Dev Feature: Should I learn .NET or PHP?

by

Discover the different aspects of .NET & PHP and which may be most suited to you before you start your journey as a software developer!

If you’re a software developer, there simply isn’t enough time in the world to learn every single technology, language and platform you might need for work, or to land a better job; at some point, you’re going to have to decide in what direction you want to expand your knowledge base.

The choices you make in that regard will have a huge impact on your life. If you devote too much time to learning a technology that’s on the verge of obsolescence, it could make future employment a problematic affair. Fortunately, there are lots of technologies that will continue to grow and prove useful to the world for the next several years—but how do you choose between those?

With all that in mind, let’s look at .NET and PHP, two software programming platforms that enjoy broad bases of support. PHP is a general-purpose scripting language that many people rely upon for Web development (hundreds of millions of websites leverage it today) while .NET is a framework built by Microsoft for Windows-related Web work. While it’s certainly possible to learn the intricacies of both platforms, is there one worth tackling more than the other?

 

What’s the Difference?

As mentioned above, PHP is an open-source software programming language primarily used for developing Web-based applications. There are a few tools out there that allow you to use it to write desktop applications, but the majority of apps written in PHP run on a Web server such as Apache server or Microsoft IIS.

PHP is a language, but .NET is a whole platform comprising a few different technologies. There are two main languages you can use with .NET to create either desktop or Web applications: VB.NET and C# (others exist, of course, but those are the main two). As with PHP, .NET requires a Web server (specifically Microsoft IIS) to create Web applications (it also requires ASP.NET, a technology that’s part of .NET’s broader platform).

While .NET is built into Microsoft Windows, you can run .NET desktop applications on Linux using a free and open source product called Mono. PHP sometimes comes pre-installed on Linux, and if not, it’s quick and easy to install. But to develop with either platform, you need some free tools: for .NET, you’ll want one of the free Visual Studio Express products from Microsoft; For PHP, there are several options—one popular choice is Eclipse.

There are benefits to learning either PHP or .NET. Should you learn both? If you’re new to software programming then you best just focus on one to start off with. At an early stage in your career, you need to focus your energy on getting very good at one thing, which will translate into higher-paying jobs down the road. If you try to go to broad, you will stretch yourself thin and not master anything. Pick one thing and be great at it!

 

Which Should I Pick?

So which do you pick? You could take a look at the entry-level jobs for PHP and .NET in the area, and use that data to influence your decision. But that research will only tell you about today: What about five years from now?

Here are some questions to help you work through a possible decision:

  • First, do you want to create desktop applications on Windows? Then .NET is a great way to go.
  • What about Web applications on Windows?Again, .NET is an excellent choice. However, you can do PHP on Windows (although it’s probably more commonly used on Linux).
  • Do you love Linux and want to focus on it?Then go for PHP if you’re doing Web development. While .NET can run on Linux with the help of Mono, it’s more suited to desktop and not Web.
  • So what about desktop apps on Linux, then?In that case, you probably want to move away from both PHP and .NET and study other languages and technologies, such as C++ and Gtk+, or perhaps wxWidgets combined with a language such as C++ or Python. While Mono works on Linux, it’s a bit too narrow in terms of entry-level job opportunities.
  • What if you want to do both Windows and Linux?That’s moving away from what was mentioned earlier about focusing; focus on one or the other early in your career. Later on, you can start to think about things like cross-platform development. But for learning a new technology and landing an entry-level job, please stay focused—with one caveat: If you’re going to go for Web development, don’t forget the client side. Also learn some JavaScript
  • If you’re going to go for Windows, do you choose C# or VB.NET?This is a potentially contentious question, with strong opinions on either side. One thing to bear in mind is that they’re actually very similar languages underneath, just with different syntax; you can accomplish the same thing with either. For a beginner, the best route to go down is the C# route. Reason being, things become contentious: VB.NET has a bit of stigma attached to it as an “amateur” language (even though it’s not). As a result, advanced programmers are more likely to choose C# when starting a new project.

Conclusion

As your programming knowledge becomes more advanced, you’ll find it’s easier to pick up new languages. Many of the popular languages today share similar syntax that has its roots in the original C programming language. (Such as C++, Java, C#, PHP and JavaScript.) That makes it easy to learn them later, and multiple languages may indeed lie in your future—but for now, stay focused. And most importantly: Have fun!

 

Are you already knowledgeable in the field of .NET and C#? If the answer is yes, check out our latest Software Developer vacancy by clicking on this link!

 

– Jeff Cogswell

HTC to launch its own Virtual Reality app store

by

HTC is launching Viveport, an alternative to the Steam catalog of Vive virtual reality experiences, worldwide this autumn.

Viveport was announced earlier this year, and it launched in China — where Steam is a much less established platform — in the spring. Now, a global developer beta will launch soon, followed by a full rollout. Developers can register today on the Vive site.

The store is supposed to be a more general-interest alternative than the more gaming-focused Steam, and it will be available across multiple platforms: desktop; a mobile app; and an in-VR catalog connected to Vive Home, a virtual environment created by HTC. “We believe virtual reality is going to change the world,” says HTC Vive senior vice president Rikard Stelber, and Viveport is supposed to make it easier to find certain categories of VR that have broad appeal, like educational experiences, shopping, and creative tools.

Steam already offers a large non-gaming catalog. Besides general-purpose desktop software and traditional films, it offers a diverse range of VR titles, like the Tilt Brush painting program and an Apollo 11 educational experience. At the same time, the platform is overwhelmingly associated with games, and with thousands of VR and non-VR titles, it’s increasingly crowded. “We’re recommending developers to publish on all platforms,” says Stelber, including Steam. “We don’t necessarily want to compete with it, we basically want to add additional categories.” Viveport will offer a new, dedicated space to showcase VR experiences.

It’s less clear why consumers would go to Viveport instead of the extremely popular Steam, which they’ll already have to launch to use the Vive. HTC said in January that Viveport was “more of an option for people who can’t use Steam,” although Stelber says it’s since seen a lot of interest that justifies a larger release. The best argument for Viveport may be that Steam is confusingly overstuffed with products and features already, and a dedicated VR store would make the Vive easier to navigate — which, for a powerful but often difficult platform, is a good thing.

– Adi Robertson

Google has a new VR platform

by

Daydream is Google’s VR platform of the future

Google now has a mobile virtual reality platform. It’s called Daydream, and it’s built on top of Android N. That means it’s not going to compete with the likes of the PC-powered HTC Vive or Oculus Rift (at least not yet, anyway), but looks much more powerful than Cardboard and represents a huge step in the push to advance VR out of its early stages.

From the sound of it, Daydream is a lot like Android for VR. It’s a backbone of software inside Android N (simply known as “VR Mode”) that provides users with an entire ecosystem to play around in. There will be a home screen with apps (which looks a lot like the Gear VR’s home screen, to be honest), and Google has apparently already created special VR versions of its own apps like YouTube, Street View, the Google Play Store, Play Movies, and Google Photos. Other companies, like The New York Times, HBO, Netflix, Ubisoft, and Electronic Arts are already developing for Daydream as well.

The biggest limitation for Daydream seems to be that it will only work on new phones that have special sensors and screens. Google says that those Daydream-ready phones will be available this fall, and that we can expect to see them from Samsung, HTC, LG, Huawei, and more. The company is also releasing reference designs for headsets as a way of encouraging phonemakers to get on board with the platform.

Google made a VR headset… sort of

One of the rumors leading up to this year’s I/O conference was that Google would announce its very own mid-tier VR headset — something more capable and polished than Cardboard, but more affordable and accessible than the HTC Vive or Oculus Rift.

This wound up being only sort of true. Google showed off a reference design for a smartphone-powered VR headset that looks a lot like a smaller, cordless Oculus Rift. (The company also showed a motion controller with a touchpad.) What’s interesting here is that Google is approaching VR much like it originally approached Android, because the company also announced the Daydream initiative, a mobile VR platform that will be baked into Android N. Like with Android, Google is providing companies with a backbone of software while pointing them in a particular direction on the hardware side.

Of course, Google actually makes its phone reference designs in the form of Nexus devices, so it’s anyone’s guess whether we’ll see a real Google VR headset as Daydream evolves, or if we’ll just keep getting more blueprints.

 

– Russell Brandom, Josh Dzieza and Sean O’Kane

© 2025 Digi Skills Agency Ltd. All rights reserved. Sitemap

Website Design by Yellow Marshmallow.