Hi ,
I'm new to Moodle. I want to know whether can we develop Moodle using Java. because i'm a java developer.
Thanks in advance.
Niranjan
The short answer would be "no". Or at least it get's quite cumbersome. Moodle is moslty coded with PHP. But some parts of Moodle might be able to interact with some services made with Java. Do you have anything specific in mind?
Thanks for your quick reply.
i'm looking for framework where php is ruled out and will use java extensively in depth. from your reply , i feel its not comfortable to go with Moodle. What do you suggest?
i'm looking for framework where php is ruled out and will use java extensively in depth. from your reply , i feel its not comfortable to go with Moodle. What do you suggest?
If all you're interested in is Java then Moodle ain't for you, since its infrastructure is PHP. Sakai is Java-powered, try that.
Although, as others have already commented, a Java programmer wouldn't find it difficult to learn PHP. The syntax of the language has a lot of similarities.
Although, as others have already commented, a Java programmer wouldn't find it difficult to learn PHP. The syntax of the language has a lot of similarities.
I have a feeling that Samuli knows Java. Is it so? 
Teemu
Teemu
Based on the smiley you might be confusing me with somebody else...?
I do know Java, but I'm not a guru by any means. Googling for "samuli java" won't find me in the top 50 results
I do know Java, but I'm not a guru by any means. Googling for "samuli java" won't find me in the top 50 results
I'm "java" guru ( the coffee means ) 
I don't count cups, but kettles ( or pans, which one is correct to use with coffee??? )...
I can see you are midway through your third pot, erm, kettle (pannu prkl) and it's just 11 am. 
Okay, sorry for messing up this thread. But Janne started it *me points fingers*.
Okay, sorry for messing up this thread. But Janne started it *me points fingers*.
You can do portions of Moodle in Java *where it makes sense*, but you'll need to tie it in with PHP. For example, someone made an awesome grading tool called Tutorboard for Moodle in Java, but he tied it in with PHP. I use it daily to comment on a student's code and assignments.
Nothing stops you from developing certain tools in Java... just don't expect the entire Moodle project to move to Java because it just doesn't make sense in many places.
--sea
Nothing stops you from developing certain tools in Java... just don't expect the entire Moodle project to move to Java because it just doesn't make sense in many places.
--sea
If you know Java. Converting to PHP shouldn't cause you too much trouble. I was in exactly the same position and in many ways found it quite liberating.
No. You need to use PHP. Don't bother trying to work around it - more trouble than it's worth.
The only good situation in which to use Java would be if you implement a large, external, highly-separated backend system of some kind in Java, then you can obviously communicate with it using web services from a Moodle interface. You would only want to do this for a large system, not for small changes to functionality.
PHP is not very difficult to learn. (The worst part is references, which are totally confusing and work differently from every other language, leading to a few evil gotchas; the other thing you have to get your head around is that the whole application is built up and torn down for every single request, things don't [usually] stay around in memory at all.) While the language is poorly-designed in some areas (in addition to suffering from the fundamental problems that apply to any interpreted, weakly-typed language when used for complex systems) it's perfectly possible to develop a well-structured application using PHP. Unfortunately, Moodle is not that application. So you also have to get used to the way Moodle does things. The only way to do this is by basically going through the code and figuring out how things work; there's very little in the way of documentation.
So yeah, in summary - knowing PHP is probably a useful employable skill, and you might as well get on with learning it! Sorry.
--sam
The only good situation in which to use Java would be if you implement a large, external, highly-separated backend system of some kind in Java, then you can obviously communicate with it using web services from a Moodle interface. You would only want to do this for a large system, not for small changes to functionality.
PHP is not very difficult to learn. (The worst part is references, which are totally confusing and work differently from every other language, leading to a few evil gotchas; the other thing you have to get your head around is that the whole application is built up and torn down for every single request, things don't [usually] stay around in memory at all.) While the language is poorly-designed in some areas (in addition to suffering from the fundamental problems that apply to any interpreted, weakly-typed language when used for complex systems) it's perfectly possible to develop a well-structured application using PHP. Unfortunately, Moodle is not that application.
So yeah, in summary - knowing PHP is probably a useful employable skill, and you might as well get on with learning it! Sorry.
--sam
Hi Nirajan, I've hired a number of folks who've only had experience with java and C flavors, it usually only takes them a month or so to come up to speed in PHP.
I would suggest that that PHP be used for Moodle development unless the desired extension just can't be done in PHP (or PHP+AJAX, as it results in tools that are easier to share, maintain and extend over the long term*.
*Due to Moodle being a PHP based application.
I would suggest that that PHP be used for Moodle development unless the desired extension just can't be done in PHP (or PHP+AJAX
*Due to Moodle being a PHP based application.
Hi.
I have been thinking about this forum, and I have a question, It is posible to think in the future about develop a webservice module for moodle, that allows moodle to be complain with other programing languages?
Greetings!!