> To create an equivalent tool with native Interbase support. I personally
> would probably use Delphi ( and of course Kylix when it's out ) to develop
> it so that both Windows and Linux platforms are covered. My first
> suggestion of a scripting language would probably be PHP4 but I'm sure
> others on this list may have experince with other scripting languages like
> DWS ( Delphi Web Script ) or PSP ( Pascal Server Pages ) but as PHP as more
> widely used it seems like a more logical alternative ( feel free to
> disagree and point out the holes in my argument ).

As I know DWS pretty well, I'll add some comments here...

First: AFAIK PSP is frozen.. ( quote: <<This was an experiment in dynamically
creating Pascal source code form ASP-style pages. I've since frozen due to the
advancement of DSP and DWS .. both excellent candidates much more advanced than
PSP... but you may learn something from my messy code!>>)

And now for DWS vs PHP:

A common misunderstanding is that DWS = PHP for Delphi. And that's not true. DWS
was developed to simplify the building of ISAPI-Modules in Delphi. (Gain the
speed of native Delphi - code and the flexibility a scripting laguage offers.)
The (IMO) main feature of DWS is the ability to extend the scripting language
very easily. In order to get a new function in the scripting language, you
simply drop a component on your ISAPI-module and write some delphi code in the
OnEval function. That's it.
DWS also knows plugins (DLLs you may load at runtime) and Libraries (= Delphi
Components that cover many functions). (DWS 2 will also know true OOP-scripting
with procedures, custom types etc..)

Furthermore DWS is not tied to HTML and webapplication development! (Some guys
are using it as scripting language to automate some parts of their programs)

In case you create an ISAPI module with lots of DWS-functions added, you get a
scripting language like PHP, that's true.. But as you already pointed out PHP is
much wider used..

In summing up, I would follow your argumentation, but I'm also sure that we will
see a similar concept realized with DWS in future.. (Using Interbase as main
DBMS and IMO the IBOs for DB access)
(AFAIK it is planned to develop a complete set of e-commerce Plugins/Libraries
for DWS (2).. and I'm sure that there will be some kind of development tool for
it..)


HTH
Willi