Web Programmers

Blue Wave Data LLC, a web applications developer based in Connecticut, has introduced the newest version of it’s M.E. Fieldware System, a Coroner case management system that helps Coroners and Medical Examiners manage their caseload on the Web.

We gave this system a top rating last year when it was initially introduced. The newest version is written in PHP 5 and is married to a robust MySQL 4+ database. Unlike the initial version where images were uploaded as binary files into the database, this one features directory based file uploads for images and forensic documents that are appended to individual cases thus making an already fast system even faster.

The new version includes 15 addendum reports that cover the gamut from Air Crashes to Work Related Deaths. Documents are all generated in .pdf format and, like the initial version, Death Certificates can be populated and generated on-the-fly. The system allows image uploads directly from the digital camera in the field, as well as file uploads for drawings and forensic files. This new version of M.E. Fieldware also does real-time statistics, billing, cremation authorization, and just about everything else a Coroner/Medical Examiner could wish for in a Case Management System. It is by far the best Coroner Case Management System we’ve seen and certainly leaves it’s .NET based competitors in the dust.

The M.E. Fieldware system is deployed on a secure Linux based server and is available on a year-to-year subscription based account for an annual fee that we’re told is less than $3,000 dollars.

For more information visit the M.E. Fieldware website, or the Blue Wave Data LLC website.

PHP

Arriving on the scene in 1994, PHP is a widely-used general-purpose scripting language that is especially suited for Web development and can be embedded into HTML. PHP generally runs on a web server, taking PHP code as its input and creating Web pages as output. However, it can also be used for command-line scripting and client-side GUI applications. PHP can be deployed on most web servers and on almost every operating system and platform free of charge. The PHP Group also provides the complete source code for users to build, customize and extend for their own use.

PHP primarily acts as a filter. The PHP program takes input from a file or stream containing text and special PHP instructions and outputs another stream of data for display.

From PHP 4, the PHP parser compiles input to produce bytecode for processing by the Zend Engine, giving improved performance over its interpreter predecessor. PHP 5 uses the Zend Engine II.

Microsoft .NET Framework

Microsoft needed an answer to what they probably viewed as a losing battle for web API supremecy. Although they conquered home computing, they were falling far behind the vast amount of  Internet friendly programming languages popping up left and right. Programmers were dropping their studies of Microsoft Visual Basic and Visual C++, and opting to focus on writing code that would be useful on the ever emerging Internet (like PHP…).

Born in 2000, Microsoft .NET Framework is a software component that is a part of Microsoft Windows operating systems. It has a large library of pre-coded solutions to common program requirements, and manages the execution of programs written specifically for the framework. The .NET Framework is a key Microsoft offering, and is intended to be used by most new applications created for the Windows platform.

The pre-coded solutions that form the framework’s Base Class Library cover a large range of programming needs in areas including: user interface, data access, database connectivity, cryptography, web application development, numeric algorithms, and network communications. The class library is used by programmers who combine it with their own code to produce applications.

Programs written for the .NET Framework execute in a software environment that manages the program’s runtime requirements. This runtime environment, which is also a part of the .NET Framework, is known as the Common Language Runtime (CLR). The CLR provides the appearance of an application virtual machine, so that programmers need not consider the capabilities of the specific CPU that will execute the program. The CLR also provides other important services such as security mechanisms, memory management, and exception handling. The class library and the CLR together compose the .NET Framework.

The .NET Framework is included with Windows Server 2003, Windows Server 2008 and Windows Vista, and can be installed on most older versions of Windows. Applications built using .NET Framework must be deployed from a Windows based server.

Why PHP Is Better

In a managed environment such as the Microsoft framework’s CLR or Java’s JVM, the .NET Framework regularly occurring garbage collection for reclaiming memory suspends execution of the application for an unpredictable lapse of time (typically no more than a few milliseconds). This makes such environments unsuitable for some applications, such as those that must respond to events with sub-second timing.

PHP is usually deployed and most at home on a Linux based web server. Deploying a web based application on a Linux server offers significant advantages over Windows servers in the areas of security, speed, and overall integrity of the application.

.NET Framework applications must be deployed from a Windows based server which, because of all the well known Windows vulnerabilities, are frequently targeted by unsavory individuals seeking unauthorized access. If you use Windows at home or in the office, you’ve probably been prompted to update your software every few days to protect it from recently discovered vulnerabilities. A Windows web server requires the same updates, however many hosting providers don’t bother to update the servers as frequently as they should (and sometimes not at all). Why? Because to upgrade the webserver, they have to download the update and restart the server. Restarting the server causes the server to go down for a few minutes, and all current users on the .NET application lose any data they entered if they are unlucky enough to be working when the server was restarted.

In the end, PHP is less expensive, faster, more secure, and able to be deployed from a Linux server that is also less expensive, faster, and more secure than their Windows based counterparts.