I had an interview with Jeremy Nelson as my expert for PHP. Jeremy has work for Network and Technology Services for the last four years as a PC Specialist. Jeremy also majored in Computer Information Systems at Wayne State College. I consider Jeremy an expert because of his experience designing, programming and implementing of Virtual Campus Portal web site <https://wildcat.wsc.edu/virtual_campus/> for use to all faculty, staff and students at WSC.

I have following an email to Jeremy with question about PHP.

Jeremy-
I have a few questions for you about your experience and knowledge of PHP.

How did you get started with PHP?
I started with PHP the summer of 2001. I was involved with a web project at work where we needed to accomplish some pretty complicated tasks, and normal web (html) just couldn't get the job done. There were other alternatives, but PHP had the tools I needed to get the job done right.

Did you have any previous knowledge or projects that you have work on that would be significant to mention?
Virtual Campus Web Portal is the by far the biggest PHP project I've ever been involved in, I've also written a series of pages that interacts with an mp3 request engine.

In the acquisition of PHP what was the biggest consideration?
We needed the functions that PHP had in order to get the things we needed to get done. The functionality of the language was the primary consideration.

Is PHP economical in price?
It's free, can't get any better than that.

Where did PHP come from?
www.php.net has more information than I can offer on that.

Do feel that PHP positively affects society?
It doesn't negatively affect it, so I suppose that's positive.

What future do you see for PHP?
As the web is growing, I foresee that the use of PHP will grow with it. The powerful functionality of the language combined with the ease of use for the end-user make the language a win-win situation for everyone involved.

Where and how can you learn how to operate PHP? What kinds of skills do you need for this technology?
Previous programming skills would help a lot, but aren't required. Basically you need a computer with Internet access, a web server, and the ability to read.

Thank you very much for you time and comments--

Andy Kuchta