UNIX for Dummies Questions & Answers

I am new to program development on Linux.

I wonder what computer languages are easy to grasp to create man - machine interactive interface software, which can accept inputs (parameters) from usrers, and present (display) the calculation results to users.


Before, I have heared about Perl, Java, never have experiences with them. Anyone please share your experiences with me. I will be very grateful.

I found Perl easy to work with. I've heard it referred to as being a reporting language and I find it great for generating reports. you can use Perl to create CGI scripts which means you could easily create a web interface for your program. Its also great for on the fly programming. It compiles on execution.

I have started to get into Java and found that its very close to C. Its object oriented programming so its more involved for someone not familiar with the idea of classes. I have started to get into the graphical end of it and you can really create some sharp looking programs to run in Xwindows.

Both of these should come easy to anyone who's programmed before and knows basic logic. I like the fact that they are both portable. I would give Perl the bid if you want something a little easier. Pick up a beginners program book for either one of these from a bookstore. Most include the compiler and sample code on a CD. Try both out and see what one fits your needs and style. In the end it usually comes down to personal preference.

Thanks for your reply.

Actually, all background programs are already (programming in C++). Now, I want to add an interface to the programs so that users can easily iuput data and get the result properly elegantly displayed on the screen. I DO need a client / server framework for the above purpose.

Advices from other friends are needed.

http/html/cgi.

Colud you please be more specific.

You wanted a client/server solution?

http - Hyper Text Transfer Protocol - the protocol WebServers/Browsers use
html - HypterText Markup Language - the format of data used on majority of Web Pages
cgi - Common Gateway Interface - the simplest way of getting real data quickly onto pages

Porter thank you for your reply.

please let me introduce the scenarion in detail.

our project is to develop a parallel program which can search documents (*.txt files) from a large document collection matching with query requirements. Now, we have finished the search engine program using C++ and MPICH2 on Linux. We compiled and tested the program in command line mode. Now the program can be run in command line execution as follows.

$ mpiexec -n 3 ./SearchEngine QueryWord

Here, '3' is the number of nodes in the PC cluster
SearchEngine is the executive
QueryWord is txt file containing some words representing a query



To complete the project, we need to create a interface for the
search engine program in Linux box so that the system can accept query words and display query results in a user friendly fashion (a window interface, in which users can simly click on a button to submit his querys, and see the results displayed in a table. A doucment shown in a row of the table can be opened when users click on that row).


There are two ways to achieve the above purpose. For the first choice, assume that the query data is stored on the file system of the PC cluster, we just create a man-machine interface (a window) in Linux, which allow users to specified the file containing the query data through serveral mouse clicks (pop up a File Open Window to allow users to select a file). The retrieval result is also shown in this window. In this way, no networking, HTTP, and HTML is involved. For this solution, I want to know what computer language is good to create such a interface to specify the query data file and render the results.

In the second way. Assume that the query data is in users' PC.We can submit the query data, which located in users' PC running Windows 20000, and receive the results simply by using IE explorer.

For this solution, I think I can implement the submission/receiption of data by using ASP, C#.Net .etc. However, I do not know how to pass data between ASP, . Net program and SearchEngine (a C++ program).

Another question is that I know that ASP, .Net is workable for Windows OS. Do they work too for Linux? if no, what is the equivalent of ASP, C# for Linux OS.

Thanks again.