From the Programming Resources, News and Ideas blog (plentyofcode.com), there's yet another comparison article, but between three different languages this time - J2EE vs ASP.NET vs PHP on multiple criteria.

In this article, I wanted to compare the web application development platforms which I have been using for recent years. My comparison has no aim to make one platform better than others, or vice versa. These are all my own thoughts and what I have experienced during the development of web applications using the three platforms. It is open to you to express your opinions and stands as a comment.

They rank them on a three-point scale from 8 (good) up to 10 (best) and look at things like:

• Syntax
• Easy to Learn
• Platform
• OOP '" Object Oriented Support
• Performance
• Support and Community
• Cost

PHP scored relatively high (nines and tens) on most things with the exception of "Syntax" because of some of its "odd characters" to work with objects and classes.

For those of you anxiously anticipating the results of the PHP programming competition put on by The Programming and Management blog, Nick Halstead has posted an update to help keep you up to date.

The judging of the PHP competition is taking a lot longer than I first thought! I started with 40+ entries which I reduced down by trying them one by one (very slow!) some of them quickly stood out and I got the list down to 12 entries. [...] I then went through those top 12 and re-tested more thoroughly trying out further words/dictionaries plus quick checks for robustness and quality of presentation. This then left me with 6 entries which I would then email out to the other Judges.

The final judging of these last six is dependent on how each of the judges rank the applications overall. Nick also includes some of the comments made by the judges already about the applications they're reviewing.

On his blog today, Stoyan points out a topic he's started over on the OpenSourceCommunity.org site - What do you think makes a good CMS?.

This year's Packt Publishing awards for the best Open Source CMS are on their way, starting middle of July. I've been selected as a judge in the PHP CMS category. [...] How can one judge something as diverse and liquid as a CMS? Content management comes in all different shapes, some systems focus on solving some problems and they do a better job than another CMS that mainly tackles different types of problems.

He shares the experiences he's had with CMS and companies that have rolled their own in the past as well as a small list of things that he's thinking about making "the standard" for the CMSes to be judged by. Also included is a lengthy list of requirements that he sees that need to be included for any decent CMS to move to the next level.

Elizabeth Naramore has posted an update about the PHP Throwdown event being planned, including updates on the judges, prizes, sponsors, and registration.

Many people probably think the PHP Throwdown has stalled, but it's quite the contrary actually. We've been mulling over many things and have come to some conclusions. So if you're interested, read on!

The judges have been found, the categories are still being decided, prizes are en route, Jupiter Hosting has stepped up as a sponsor for the event, registration is coming soon, and the rules have been posted.

Be sure to check out the main page for complete details on the event. The PHP Throwdown is a competition to see what can be accomplished with PHP in 24 hours. Who: You! You can compete in a team, or individually.