php has several open-source system and some are free like oscommerce,etc. what is most advisable if you have a new project should you go for open source or create the project from scratch?
Now that's a very open question (no pun intended...well maybe a little). It depends on several things, functionality, your budget, time frame, skill set etc
If you intend to sell your work afterwards, bear in mind that you can, but your code should also be made freely available. Thats the nature of open source. But I'm sure you know this.
On the other hand, why reinvent the wheel when you don't have to? If there are open source projects available that already meet most of your needs and will be suitable with a little tweeking, then OS can save a lot of time and money.There is also a lot of OS code available on the PEAR http://pear.php.net website that can be useful.
> starting from scratch..perhaps for better control. easy to maintain.
Adding to that: - less links in the chain of possible breakpoints (subitem of both above) - syntactic choice in naming - performance tuning to your own specifications, rather than those of an unknown entity. - configuration issues - unintended consequences - without reading through every single line of code in the open source code, you can't know what it does to session, other parts of your code/objects, or how it handles SQL queries/Ajax calls, etc. - lack of bloat - You can spend a lot of time trimming down someone else's code for your own ends and removing extraneous bits (which may or may not break it), or write your own.
jcoder wrote: > php has several open-source system and some are free like > oscommerce,etc. what is most advisable if you have a new project > should you go for open source or create the project from scratch?
> you input pls....
Get the open source, rip off what works well, then start from scratch so its all known and controlled stuff.
Puzzled wrote: > On Wed, 26 Dec 2007 02:32:52 -0500, > My Pet Programmer <anth...@mypetprogrammer.com> wrote:
>> jcoder said: >>> starting from scratch..perhaps for better control. easy to maintain. >> Adding to that: >> - less links in the chain of possible breakpoints (subitem of both above) >> - syntactic choice in naming >> - performance tuning to your own specifications, rather than those of >> an unknown entity. >> - configuration issues >> - unintended consequences - without reading through every single line >> of code in the open source code, you can't know what it does to session, >> other parts of your code/objects, or how it handles SQL queries/Ajax >> calls, etc. >> - lack of bloat - You can spend a lot of time trimming down someone >> else's code for your own ends and removing extraneous bits (which may or >> may not break it), or write your own.
> It might only be a personal failing, but any time I've tried to > save time by customising someone else's code, I've failed. Other > people's code always seems to be designed to a non-intuitive > model, badly commented, fragile, and with unnecessary couplings > that are fiendishly difficult to unravel.
> I've found that, if I can use someone else's code without > changing it, I'm ahead. But if it wants modifying to meet my > needs, I'm generally better off writing from scratch.
Well I have to say I symnpathise,..but in specific case it can work well.
If there is merely one bug to fix ore one small feature to add, its good.
Otherwise, yes, by and large after many years of experience,I have come to the general conclusion that its shorter to rewrite it, using the IDEAS of someone else's code. Not the code itself. And lifting the better written chunks in toto.
In other words. flagrant plagiarization,rather than adaptation, is the name of the game.
On Dec 25, 8:17 pm, jcoder <deepdiver_b...@yahoo.com> wrote:
> php has several open-source system and some are free like > oscommerce,etc. what is most advisable if you have a new project > should you go for open source or create the project from scratch?
First of all, there are three options, not two:
1. Code from scratch 2. Code from scratch using a third-party foundation library or framework 3. Implement (and possibly extend) an open-source application
In my opinion, you should choose option 3 when the open-source application closely matches the needs of the project and there are time and/or budget constraints. For example, if you want to put together a community site and you have a week to do it, you should consider Drupal. (Not to mention situations where you need to deploy a blog in two hours; try beating WordPress under those circumstances...)
The choice between 1 and 2 is largely personal; use of third-party tools can increase your productivity only if you understand them well. On the other hand, some third-party tools can increase programmer's productivity by using techniques hindering the application's performance, so, again, you need to understand the way those tools work...
On Dec 25, 10:51 pm, macca <ptmcna...@googlemail.com> wrote:
> Now that's a very open question (no pun intended...well maybe a > little). It depends on several things, functionality,yourbudget, > time frame, skill set etc
> If you intend tosellyourwork afterwards, bear in mind that you can, > butyourcodeshould also be made freely available. Thats the nature > of opensource. But I'm sure you know this.
> On the other hand, why reinvent the wheel when you don't have to? If > there are opensourceprojects available that already meet most ofyourneeds and will be suitable with a little tweeking, then OS can > save a lot of time and money.There is also a lot of OScodeavailable > on the PEARhttp://pear.php.netwebsite that can be useful.
