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Sane · May 11th, 2006, 5:58 PM

Nah, I get what you're saying, and I've actually been wondering the exact same thing myself. I'm not sure if PHP has access to actual computer functions, like running an executable binary on the server itself. That would just be a question of whether it has control over the os's system calls or not. I assume it quite possibly does have this kind of control. However, there are most likely things it can not do. Yet, in the realm of the net, I don't see why you would need to do anything in those regards.

I'll think of my server for example... It is coded in Python (so it has complete control over my computer in the same respect as C++ could). I do certain things like creating images dynamically and serving them. I'm pretty sure PHP has access to image manipulation libraries. I also have some places where I retrieve the contents of a folder using os's "dir" command... PHP probably can do this. Then there are some other things like getting the sizes of files, loading font objects, copying/moving/deleting files, sha/base64 encryption. And I'm actually quite certain that PHP can do all of this.

So, sorry if it seems like I'm rambling. I'm trying to figure this out for myself too. Haha. After all, PHP may have power over everything that you would ever need to execute server-side. Especially for a VLE, I can't see anything being out of PHP's reach.

May 11th, 2006, 5:58 PM	#10
Sane Programming Guru Join Date: Apr 2005 Location: Waterloo, Ontario Posts: 1,890 Rep Power: 5	Nah, I get what you're saying, and I've actually been wondering the exact same thing myself. I'm not sure if PHP has access to actual computer functions, like running an executable binary on the server itself. That would just be a question of whether it has control over the os's system calls or not. I assume it quite possibly does have this kind of control. However, there are most likely things it can not do. Yet, in the realm of the net, I don't see why you would need to do anything in those regards. I'll think of my server for example... It is coded in Python (so it has complete control over my computer in the same respect as C++ could). I do certain things like creating images dynamically and serving them. I'm pretty sure PHP has access to image manipulation libraries. I also have some places where I retrieve the contents of a folder using os's "dir" command... PHP probably can do this. Then there are some other things like getting the sizes of files, loading font objects, copying/moving/deleting files, sha/base64 encryption. And I'm actually quite certain that PHP can do all of this. So, sorry if it seems like I'm rambling. I'm trying to figure this out for myself too. Haha. After all, PHP may have power over everything that you would ever need to execute server-side. Especially for a VLE, I can't see anything being out of PHP's reach.