Is php very limited?

Question

I've tried asp.net and jsp...and the programming language was powerful enough to create both desktop and Windows apps.

Butwhat can I possibly do with php other than creating web applications? Does it have some kind of runtime or framework?

Thanks

Answer 1

Powerful is an unfortunate word. It's about focus, not power. PHP is not very well suited for desktop applications. In part because of weak library support (Though some exists), and in part because of its memory management model. It can be used for jobs outside the web world though; It's often used as a general scripting language, as well as various background tasks.

Answer 2

PHP is not "limited" per se. PHP is primarily only used to develop Web applications. However, there are products like WinBinder that promise to allow you to use PHP to build a desktop application; I wouldn't exactly recommend that though. Also, you probably have not built Windows applications with ASP.NET and JSP but rather more likely .NET WinForms and Java (perhaps Swing). PHP is used by thousands of developers building many different Web applications. It is possible to build other kinds of applications with it but again I wouldn't recommend going down that path.