The genesis of the computer revolution was in a machine. The genesis of our programming languages thus tends to look like that machine.But computers are not so much machines as they are mind amplification tools (“bicycles for the mind,” as Steve Jobs is fond of saying) and a different kind of expressive medium. As a result, the tools are beginning to look less like machines and more like parts of our minds, and also like other expressive medium....

You will create two main types of variables in your PHP code: scalar and array. Scalar variables contain only one value at a time, and arrays contain a list of values, or even another array.The example at the beginning of this chapter created a scalar variable, and the code in this book deals primarily with scalar variables. You can find information on arrays in Appendix B, "Basic PHP Language Reference." When you assign a value to a variable, you usually assign a va....

In the early days of the phone system, you picked up a telephone and talked to an operator who put your call through. As more people got phone lines, the phone company began to replace its operators with special switching equipment. When you dialed a number, your telephone sent a signal to the switching equipment, which routed your call to its destination. Such switching systems could handle more calls more efficiently than human operators, but they also opened the door to pho....

Establishing a Linux TCP/IP network requires two components of hardware: the network interface card (NIC) and the network medium. As with most things in life, you can opt to go for an inexpensive card and medium or spend lots more money for full-featured items. As the amount you spend increases, you get more functionality and benefits, although usually with diminishing returns for your dollar. Before deciding on the type of network interface cards to use (unless you already ha....

In recent years, Microsoft has taken a pummeling in the Web server business. At one time, IIS and Windows NT Server 4.0 was the most popular commercial Web server platform; today, Windows 2000 Server and Windows Server 2003 are fighting against a wave of free and inexpensive versions of the Linux operating system and Apache Web server software. Microsoft argues that such servers don’t come with the support that a multi-billion dollar company like Microsoft can provide; f....