The world of open source software is full of acronyms, many of which can only be described as tedious and boring. However, here’s one that has special importance.
Perhaps because advice is seldom sought from the professional marketing folks, the world of open source software is filled with esoteric and obscure acronyms, “PHP” being one of them. What do I mean when I say “esoteric and obscure?” Well, PHP is a “recursive acronym,” that is, an acronym that refers to itself. It stands for “PHP: Hypertext Preprocessor” and is basically an open source scripting language for Web servers that is compatible with HTML.
What’s important about PHP as a scripting language (as opposed to a bizarre acronym) is that it’s been widely adopted and is a feature of many commercial Web hosting services. Thus PHP applications, which are generally also open source, can be run on ordinary websites. These applications, which can often be recognized by the fact that their name starts with “php,” can be extremely powerful tools, especially now that commercial Web hosting services are starting to provide their subscribers substantial allocations of disk storage and many homes as well as most business offices have broadband Internet access.
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PHP vs. HTML The ordinary HTML (HyperText Markup Language) files that are used to create a basic website have names that end with “.html" or “.htm” to identify the type of code they contain. PHP files are identified with the suffix “.php”. They often contain mainly ordinary HTML code but can also have sections marked as PHP code. The “.php” suffix instructs the Web server software to process the PHP commands as well as the HTML when it delivers data to someone using a Web browser to view the page. |
One of the more popular private uses of personal computers and the Internet is for genealogy research. A number of powerful and sophisticated commercial applications have been available for some time to archive genealogical information on personal computers and use it to construct family trees.
By its nature, genealogical information can be highly complex. For example, an ancestor with one surname at birth may have taken a different surname at marriage or may have had children by several marriages. As a result, it can be time-consuming to sort out a particular family’s genealogical information and enter it into a computer program.
Naturally, family members would often like to share the information they have so painstakingly collected with their relatives, who unfortunately may not own the particular program needed to view it.
Obviously one of the major attractions of having a personal website is that friends and relatives can have easy access to it, so it would be a great place to post genealogical information that has been entered into a family tree program with the assurance that everyone can see it. But what would be an easy way to post this information without reentering it all?
Fortunately most genealogy programs have the ability to export their data in something called GEDCOM format, creating a standard file that can be loaded into another program. PhpGedView (certainly another example of dull, obscure name!) is an open source application which can quickly be installed on a website by the simple expedient of uploading it to the proper directory. Careful thought has been given to making it equally quick to configure using a Web browser, and it’s also easy to load a family tree that has been saved in GEDCOM format.
Once the family tree has been loaded, entries for individuals can readily be viewed and edited online, with the proviso that most information is hidden from visitors who haven’t registered with the website and been granted permission to see the full tree (identity theft is obviously a concern with detailed family tree information). Using these entries, phpGedView can provide the usual basic features of genealogical programs like a creating a chart of the descendants of a specific ancestor. However, it goes beyond basic capabilities to offer some sophisticated features, for example, reminders of upcoming birthdays and wedding anniversaries!
PhpGedView is only one example of a powerful, easy-to-install open source Web server application that solves a complex problem. Another is phpBB (the “BB” stands for “Bulletin Board”), a popular application for hosting Web forums. So when you see a name that starts with “php,” think “WorldWide Web!”