Everyday Drugs Essay Example for Free

Everyday Drugs Essay The essay â€Å"Everyday Drugs† written by Adam Smith reminds me that government plays an important role in our lives. The government is an important element for the existence of a state. Without which, a particular society will be in chaos. Anarchy will govern. There will be no order because people are not guided by any rules. Due to this, people will always think that every action they make is right. But since there is government, a world full of chaos is prevented. Every person is guided by laws that govern our action. Each government prescribes what is right and what is wrong. In my opinion, government is very important because it produces harmony and tranquility in a particular society. Sometimes, however, the presence of government restricts our actions too much. It sometimes hinders our freedom to act. Also, government in different countries perceive certain action to be right while some government perceives the same act as illegal. For example, in Holland, people are allowed to smoke cannabis in public places without being apprehended by the authorities. This is because smoking of cannabis is allowed in their country. However, if a person is seen smoking cannabis the United States, he or she will be apprehended because that particular act is proscribed in that country. There is no substantial distinction between the people in Holland and the people in America which will give the people in the former be allowed to smoke cannabis. The only difference between them is that the government perceives such act to be permissible in Holland while the other perceive it otherwise. In the essay, Smith associates government as a drug which prescribes to its people what are the action that are legal and what are those illegal. The government tries to manipulate what our action should be. I believe that it is alright for us to be guided by rules for as long as our freedom to act is not infringed.

British Poetry Essay -- Poems Poet Poetry Britain British Essays

Knowledge of contemporary British poetry is of great importance when it comes to understanding the reigning trends of England. The 1970s saw a fair amount of polemic concerning the discontinuities of the national "traditions," most of it concerned with poetry, all of it vulnerable to a blunt totalizing which demonstrated the triumphant ability of "nation" to organize literary study and judgment--as it does still, perhaps more than ever. It remains the case twenty years later that there is a strong hint of the majority of the english poets to rediscover their ‘Englishness’ as a poet, and at the same time the presence of the various other cultures ensures that their remains a deep variety in the crative material. The temptation stubbornly to assert the coherence and power of national traditions is strong not only among cultural conservatives dedicated to the perpetuation of poetic practices associated with or promoting "little-englandism" but increasingly in other, less visible communities of readers as well--and here I think especially of the small but vital communities of poets and critics dedicated to exploratory practices, where the pressures to locate indigenous varieties of Modernist and postmodernist practice are increasing. Now at this stage this would be notable that the English poetry of the present day had to come a long way before it achieved its present mould. It includes the evolution of thought process from the likes of Yeats and Eliot and on to Auden, Dylan Thomas, Philip Larkin and finally to the present day poets like Andrew Zawacki, Brian Patten etc. The poetry of the present day England is one that has many voices to it. There are various ethnicities, cultures and nationalities involved in shaping the face of the contemporary British poetry. But a walk down the memory lane and we find that the early poetry of the century acted as a melting pot to shape the face of the present day trend of the poetry scene. Since 1945 British poetry has moved steadily from what many regard as twentieth century parochial to a twenty-first century international. In the space of little more than fifty years the insular, clear verse of mainland English Britain has changed from being a centralist and predominantly male, seemingly academic practice to become a multi-hued, post-modern, cultural entertainment, available to all. Some observers see this as... ...rse and humor is Wendy Cope. Wendy Cope was born in 1945 in the south of England. Both of her parents held management positions with British companies. Cope earned a B.A. from Oxford (1966) and a diploma from the Westminster College of Education (1967). After teaching for several years at various junior schools in London, she became a freelance writer and columnist. Her Making Cocoa for Kingsley Amis (1986) includes a number of literary jokes and parodies in the style of some of the most notable twentieth-century poets. Asked about her work, Cope asserted, "I dislike the term 'light verse' because it is used as a way of dismissing poets who allow humor into their work. I believe that a humorous poem can also be 'serious'; deeply felt and saying something that matters." Twenty-first century British poetry is no longer precisely English as it used to be. In fact it has redefined the word ‘English’ in a new manner and this is because of the fact that there are various different trends in the British poetry scene. Like the world literature with which it is now firmly allied it has as many facets as the eye of a fly. Saying exactly what it is remains the problem of the moment.

Advanced Forensics vs Traditional Investigation

Technology has allowed our world to become much more advanced. This was never truer than in the field of forensic science. There was a time where the only evidence introduced at trials was the murder weapon and the testimony of an eyewitness. Now we have DNA, hair, fiber, and soil samples to analyze. We rely on forensics when decomposed bodies or skeletal remains are found to provide an identity and a cause and time of death. The field of Criminalistics has definitely come a long way from just questioning suspects but this still remains a critical part of any investigation. It can be said that forensic science provides amazing answers but the results can never have 100% certainty due to human error. Traditional investigative methods must go hand in hand with forensic analysis in the process of ensuring that all possible evidence is acquired and a jury has proper information to make a fair decision. Forensic evidence provides many answers to questions that would otherwise remain a mystery. We can take the example of forensic anthropology, or the study of human remains. Sometimes the remains are skeletal or so badly decomposed that it is impossible to even identify the victim until an examination is done by a forensic anthropologist. As we learned in chapter 1 of our text, studying remains as well as the insects and soil found in and around a human body can determine a time and cause of death. This is important information useful in finding and convicting a suspect. Every case is different, but evidence is always required to prove guilt. Forensic science has become so evolved that traditional methods might be seen as out dated; this shouldn’t be the case. Interrogating a suspect should be just as important as submitting a DNA sample. No case should rely solely on one or the other. If we consider some of the cases from the past we can see how important it is to have a good combination of both. In the Wayne Williams case there was a huge amount of fiber evidence linking him to 12 different victims; however fiber evidence is only good when you have a source to match it to (Saferstein, 2007). If the Atlanta P. D. had not set up a surveillance team the night he allegedly dumped a body into the river, this case might remain unsolved. An old fashioned stake-out provided a big break for this case. The Manson case is another high profile case that relied heavily on eyewitnesses and informants as opposed to forensics (Bugliosi, N. D. ). In this case the prosecution was able to prove through witness testimony that Charles Manson had almost complete control of his followers. Unfortunately juries do place a lot of credibility on forensic evidence which might be a cause of the â€Å"CSI effect† (Robbers, 2006). The CSI show has captivated so many people with its unrealistic techniques of solving crimes in less than 60 minutes. Society has embraced its popularity and has come to expect something similar when they land in the jury box. Jurors should not base their decision solely on the fact that they have a forensic scientist confirming a DNA sample match with the suspect. Let’s not forget that the scientist making this analysis is human and susceptible to commit errors whether intentional or unintentional. . In recent years many lab scandals have been uncovered from innocent unknowing mistakes to faking tests results. I had come across the story of Mariem Megalla, a forensic scientist who is accused of falsifying evidence she tested. She is accused of labeling a sample of a suspected drug as positive when it had actually come back with a negative test result (Mangan, 2010). Rather than having it retested, she removed the label off of a positive sample and placed it on the negative sample. Because of scandals similar to this the Justice for All Act of 2004 was created. This did require strict guidelines, frequent audits and more oversight in forensic labs but this still does not guarantee a mistake proof result every single time. Jurors must always keep this in mind when deciding how much weight to put on any type of forensic science evidence.

Essay on Montessori Language

Language lies at the root of that transformation of the environment that we call ‘civilization’. The child’s language developments during his or her early years are freely remarkable. Describe how does the Montessori environment aid the child’s com/b-f-skinner-theories-of-language-development/">language development? What is civilization? â€Å"Civilization is a term used to describe a certain kind of development of a human society†(2). In ancient Egypt, writing was first discovered in the form of paintings on the walls of caves, structures and many artifacts.These ancient forms of writings are a form of communication within the ancient Egyptian society. The paintings on the walls were later transformed into writing on papyrus. Paper was first discovered in China and later papermaking spread throughout Asia. Many languages were developed. As the result of advancement in reading and writing, economic, political and social developments were possible. Th rough the development of languages it leads to the transformation of the environment we call ‘civilization’.An infant is first exposed to language through sounds generated by the environment and languages spoken by the adults surrounding him. He babbles words such as ‘da da, ma ma’ and utters intentional word like ‘milk, mum mum ‘when he gets hungry. At the age of 1. 5, he realizes that everything has a name. This is a crucial period whereby Montessori understands that any form of education imparted at this age has to be indirect as â€Å"Montessori’s enormous respect for the mysterious powers that form the child from the moment of conception led her to fear any direct interference with their unfolding†(1, page 121).Before a child begins to learn how to read and write, there are four fundamental preparatory activities that will indirectly enhance their learning. Story telling is a great way to impart new words to a child. It is imp ortant for the story to be short and interesting as children have very short attention span. It spurs imagination in a child to create emotional attachment to goodness as â€Å"when a moral principle has the power to move us into action, it is often because it is backed by a picture or image. †(3, page 7).Secondly, music and movement is important to help children to express their emotions. This will help them to gain confidence in their own abilities to express themselves in language. Also, they are developing gross motor skills and good body posture when they are dancing with the music. Thirdly, speech and drama exposes the child to learn a wide range of appropriate and inappropriate ways of communicating. They learn to project their voices and to speak words clearly. Indirectly, the child is learning new vocabulary and is enhancing the concept of social grace and courtesy.Lastly, picture talk can be introduced to children to allow them to express words through what they see and imagine. Practical life exercises help the child to develop control of movement and hand-eye coordination which prepares him for future writing. Activities such as pouring beans or water from one jar to another, lacing on the dressing frames and polishing build fine and gross motor skills. The child learns to develop inner discipline to see through the activities to completion. He also develops the sense of writing from left to right.During the activities the teacher introduces the names of the activities and the verbs involved such as â€Å"buttons, zip, unzip† which indirectly builds the child’s vocabulary. In social grace and courtesy activities the child learns to ask questions among themselves using words like â€Å"May I† and â€Å"Can I† which further develops their self-image and communication skills. In sensorial activities, the child is developing the sensitivity to order. For example, the child is expected to carry all the blocks to the ta ble one-by-one for the pink tower exercise.The teacher conducts three-period lessons to expose children with certain words like â€Å"cylinder, thick, thin, light, heavy† that further builds vocabularies. When a child practices on the knobbed cylinders, besides learning on different sizes and shapes, he is also developing his pincer muscles of his thumb and index fingers. This prepares him for a stronger pincer grip for writing in future. Once the child has shown readiness and interest, he is able to move on to direct preparation of reading and writing. In Montessori environment, the child learns to write before he learns to read.By the age of 4, teacher may start making phonetic letter sound for the child such as ‘mmmmm’ then pronounce words with that sound – mother, someday, drum. The child traces the shape of the letter using sandpaper letters. â€Å"By tracing the letter with the index finger of his dominant hand, the child builds a muscular memory of the shape of the letter he will one day write. †(1, page 129). He also learns to build words using large moveable alphabets (LMA). If the child faces some difficulties, the teacher is there to help him to decode the word.When he is competent with this activity, he is given small phonetic objects and pictures which represent the words he needs to build. At this stage the child can move on to reading words by reading with object or picture boxes. To further build the phonetic words bank of the child, he can practice reading with sheets of pictures and cards, the 5-vowel wordlists and 5-vowel booklets. The child by now is exposed to reading and teacher should help him to build sentences using pictures and object boxes.Teacher asks open-ended questions to allow the child to express what he sees from the picture. The child learns about articles, big capital and full stop as part of the component s of a sentence. In another words, when reading came to him, â€Å"it came in a full form†(1, page 136). Not only the child knows the meaning, he has a good grasp of grammar, position in the phrase and sentence. Teacher can further cultivate his reading habit by introducing to him interesting reading materials from the book corner or a visit to a local library.The teacher plays a very important role in a child’s language development. She should see herself as a friendly and encouraging facilitator than an â€Å"authoritarian knowledge giver†. (3, page 48). She can start by encouraging a freedom of expression and to bring the children’s ideas and background into the class learning activities. She much be prepared to listen responsively and not past judgment to quick that could potentially dampen the child’s enthusiasm to learn. Most importantly, the teacher has to have a great passion and love for children.

Altruism and Kin Selection Essays

Altruism and Kin Selection Essays Altruism and Kin Selection Essay Altruism and Kin Selection Essay Within nature Darwin has proposed the notion of natural selection as the driving force of evolution. Individuals acquiring traits solely designed for their survival and reproductive fitness. Accordingly, animals act selfishly to survive and pass along their genes to future generations. Since then, controversy has circled around the idea of organisms acting out in a selfless manor decreasing their fitness for the success of another member’s fitness. Its puzzling to assume individuals will sacrifice themselves for the benefit of another member when Darwin’s assumptions were predominately associated with the survival of the fittest. Explanations to this issue have been observed amongst kin where family members will help the survival of its relatives in order to increase the success of the group; this is otherwise known as kin selection and is one explanation of altruism. Similarly, cooperation in nature has been viewed as a form of altruism where collaborative efforts will benefit the survival of the species versus selfish actions. A study done by Mr. Allee found planarian worms likely to survive 1. 5 times longer if they grouped together under intense conditions versus groups who exhibited no grouping. Favoring kin selection and cooperation altruism enhances survival of the group level in turn leaving better fitness rates rather than individualistic behavior. But does each theory demonstrate true altruism in nature? In this paper I will present two opposing theories on true altruistic behavior in nature, one based upon alternative explanations for altruistic actions, while the other emphasizes selfish behavior induced for survival and proves altruism to be based on selfish implications too. What is altruism? Altruism is defined as a social behavior that decreases the fitness of the actor in turn increasing the fitness of the recipient. (West). While Darwin believed in natural selection he was also aware of many functional help services amongst animals. Therefore, Darwin presumed natural selection to favor socially interactive animals by enabling advantageous traits that indirectly benefit the species at the group level. According to Mr. Domondon’s review, Darwin presented a theoretical species where some monkeys will inherit a gene that permits alarm singling when predators are spotted, while others will not. Essentially the species that contain monkeys with this trait will sacrifice themselves, or engage in costly behavior causing a greater amount of its group members to survive and pass down the alarm-signaling gene. If such genes are generating a higher reproductive success then groups who do not possess the gene, then this altruistic trait will become inherited; fundamentally causing more altruistically modified individuals. Hamilton presented kin selection as an alternative solution to altruism. Behaviors operating between close relatives where an individual will act in a manor costly to oneself in order to help its kin. This is otherwise known as inclusive fitness, consists of both the actors fitness in addition to the fitness of each group member. (West). Inclusive fitness will be highest amongst closer related members in turn creating stronger kin selection. Such instances can be observed where sibling allomothers sacrifice time and effort to care for the offspring of a mother, greatly increasing the survival of the infant; given that the offspring shares a third of the genes of the sibling allomothers, this will increase their inclusive fitness. Simply put, kin selection will succeed if the indirect benefits outweigh the direct cost inflicted upon the actor. So, species displaying altruistic behavior to help their relatives will increase the survival of the community. Furthermore, reciprocal altruism additionally gives resolution to the issue of altruism. It is associated with individuals beneficially providing services toward members while accepting costs and expecting this treatment in return later. This can develop into long lasting relationships between individuals where benefits will be higher than temporary costs as the behavior is returned in a tit for tat sense (Silk 2007). Also, game theories provide insight into this behavior; for example, the Prisoner dilemma involves two unrelated individuals in a situation given the opportunity to cooperate with one another to gain a beneficial outcome. On the other hand one may act selfishly to gain individual benefits and the other will acquire the costs entirety. The idea is to achieve equal cooperation and to obtain maximum fitness benefits to each participator. For example, if two monkeys come across a predator they are given two opportunities, flee and leave the other monkey as prey, or jump the leopard in an attempt to overpower the leopard and equally flee. At this point the monkeys will have to decide the best method that will likely be at the individuals best interest. However if both monkeys jump the leopard and survive, it is likely that this trait will be passed down. Hence, cooperation and reciprocal altruism may deem some costs but again benefits outweigh the costs and greatly provide better fitness. Does true altruism exist in nature? Altruism fundamentally presumes an individual to be sacrificing its own time and resources to benefit another member’s success, posing a huge problem in evolution. Individuals gain beneficial traits by natural selection for the selfish purpose of enhancing their own survival rate. Also, evolution acting at the individual level allows genetic traits unfit for survival to die out. If deleterious genes cause a mutation within a species, perhaps a discoloration unpleasing to the opposite sex, this individual is likely to have a lower fitness, and natural selection will weed this trait out. Thus, animals with successful traits that increase reproductive fitness and survival will continue passing down so that they will surpass proximate competitive species or conditions benefiting the survival of its kind. Mr. Allee has suggested altruistic genes to act selfishly throughout a community, in this case the species should be equally cooperating and engaging in selfless behavior benefiting the species as a whole. However, scientists have brought forth notions of potential cheaters, individuals who will receive benefits from actors and will not return the benefits and or will not display a case of altruism toward individuals. In this case selfish genes will return to the population weeding out altruistic genes. Above all, individuals acting selfishly will gain higher benefits toward their own survival without adhering to any costs. Moreover, while many examples provide solutions to the issues pertaining to altruism it can be argued altruism simply acts in the interest of the actor not solely the recipient. In kin selection the actor is behaving to increase the fitness of its kin by decreasing its own fitness, however it can be argued that the actor is acting selfishly to increase his own genetic heritability. It would be smart to sacrifice myself to save 4 brothers and sisters or ten cousins, thereby increasing a greater amount of genetic fitness embedded in our relatives. Moreover, the acts of altruism are associated only within kin selective communities fundamentally assuming every costly action benefiting a group member will in fact still benefit the actor’s genotypic construction and ultimately fitness. Although kin selection poses a relationship where the actor engaging to benefit another while accepting costly sacrifices, the actor also maintains motives to increase his own genetic survival. In spite of this, kin selection is not a supporter of true altruism. Ordinarily if true altruism were to exist in nature this would profoundly require only the interests of the recipient, rather than an individuals own. However, kin selection theory explains altruistic behavior as a strategy devised by selfish genes, increasing the reproductive success of the recipient. Yet, the genes of the benefiting member from the act of altruism are indirectly benefiting the genetic survival of the actor. Reciprocal altruism theory also seems to contradict the idea of behaving selfless, when the actor is expecting the behavior in return; this is merely delayed selfishness. Although, interestingly enough altruistic traits may attribute at a group level, however this will still drive individual selfishness; an individual acting selfishly will still benefit at a higher level than those altruistically taking costs, and in turn will reintroduce the selfish behavior back into the population. So does altruism exist in nature? Yes there are forms of altruistic behavior were individuals will help others improve their fitness will succumbing to costs of their own, however these acts are not done selflessly. Therefore, true altruism does not exist in nature. True altruism are acts that do not require benefits back toward the actor, instead only choose to behave supportively with no gains, and this does not exist in nature.

Discover the Distant, Frozen Oort Cloud

Discover the Distant, Frozen Oort Cloud Where do comets come from? Theres a dark, cold region of the solar system where chunks of ice mixed with rock, called cometary nuclei, orbit the Sun. This region is called the Oà ¶rt Cloud, named after the man who suggested its existence, Jan Oà ¶rt. The Oà ¶rt Cloud From Earth While this cloud of cometary nuclei is not visible to the naked eye, planetary scientists have been studying it for years. The future comets it contains are made mostly of mixtures of frozen water, methane, ethane, carbon monoxide, and hydrogen cyanide, along with rock and dust grains. The Oà ¶rt Cloud by the Numbers The cloud of cometary bodies is widely dispersed through the outermost part of the solar system. Its very distant from us, with an inner boundary 10,000 times the Sun-Earth distance. At its outer edge, the cloud stretches into interplanetary space some 3.2 light-years. For comparison, the closest star to us is 4.2 light-years away, so the Oà ¶rt Cloud reaches almost that far.   Planetary scientists estimate the Oort Cloud has up to two trillion  icy objects orbiting the Sun, many of which make their way into solar orbit and become comets. There are two types of comets that come from the distant reaches of space, and it turns out they dont all come from the Oà ¶rt Cloud.   Comets and Their Origins Out There How do  Oà ¶rt Cloud objects become comets that go hurtling in orbit around the Sun? There are several ideas about that. Its possible that stars passing nearby, or tidal interactions within the disk of the  Milky Way, or interactions with gas and dust clouds give these icy bodies a kind of push out of their orbits in the Oà ¶rt Cloud. With their motions changed, theyre more likely to fall in toward the Sun on new orbits that take thousands of years for one trip around the Sun. These are called long-period comets. Other comets, called short-period comets, travel around the Sun in much shorter times, usually less than 200 years. They come from the Kuiper Belt, which is a roughly disk-shaped region that spans out from the orbit of Neptune. The Kuiper Belt has been in the news for the past couple of decades as astronomers discover new worlds within its boundaries. Dwarf planet  Pluto is a denizen of the Kuiper Belt, joined by Charon (its largest satellite), and the dwarf planets Eris, Haumea, Makemake, and Sedna. The Kuiper Belt extends from about 30 to 55 AU, and astronomers estimate it has hundreds of thousands of icy bodies larger than 62 miles across. It might also have about a trillion comets. (One AU, or astronomical unit, equals about 93 million miles.) Exploring the Parts of the Oà ¶rt Cloud The Oà ¶rt Cloud is divided into two parts. The first is the source of the long-period comets and may have trillions of cometary nuclei. The second is an inner cloud shaped roughly like a doughnut. It, too, is very rich in cometary nuclei and other dwarf-planet-sized objects. Astronomers also have found one small world that has a section of its orbit through the inner part of the Oà ¶rt Cloud. As they find more, they will be able to refine their ideas about where those objects originated back in the solar systems early history. The Oà ¶rt Cloud and Solar System History The Oà ¶rt Clouds cometary nuclei and Kuiper Belt objects (KBOs) are icy remnants from the formation of the solar system, which took place about 4.6 billion years ago. Since both icy and dusty materials were interspersed throughout the primordial cloud, its likely that the Oà ¶rt Clouds frozen planetesimals formed much closer to the Sun early in history. That occurred alongside the formation of the planets and asteroids. Eventually, solar radiation either destroyed the cometary bodies closest to the Sun or they were collected together to become part of planets and their moons. The rest of the materials were slingshotted away from the Sun, along with the young gas giant planets (Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune) to the outer solar system to regions where other icy materials were orbiting. Its also very likely that some Oà ¶rt Cloud objects came from materials in a jointly shared pool of icy objects from protoplanetary disks. These disks formed around other stars that lay very close together in the Suns birth nebula. Once the Sun and its siblings formed, they drifted apart and dragged along the materials from other protoplanetary disks. They also became part of the  Oà ¶rt Cloud.   The outer regions of the distant outer solar system have not yet been deeply explored by spacecraft. The New Horizons  mission explored  Pluto in mid-2015, and there are plans to  study one other object beyond Pluto in 2019. Aside from those flybys, there are no other missions being built to pass through and study the Kuiper Belt and  Oà ¶rt Cloud. Oà ¶rt Clouds Everywhere! As astronomers study planets orbiting other stars, they are finding evidence of cometary bodies in those systems, too. These exoplanets form largely as our own system did, meaning that Oà ¶rt clouds could be an integral part of any planetary systems evolution and inventory.  At the very least, they tell scientists more about the formation and evolution of our own solar system.

Web technologies.From PHP to Python Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 5250 words

Web technologies.From PHP to Python - Essay Example The distinguishing factor of PHP from client-side languages like JavaScript is that the code is executed on the server. If you were to have a script similar to the above on your server, the client would receive the results of running that script, with no way of determining what the underlying code may be. You can even configure your web server to process all your HTML files with PHP, and then there's really no way that users can tell what you have up your sleeve. (See: http://www.php net/manual/en/introduction.php) The best things in using PHP are that it is extremely simple for a newcomer, but offers many advanced features for a professional programmer. Don't be afraid reading the long list of PHP's features. You can jump in, in a short time, and start writing simple scripts in a few hours.Almost anything. PHP is primarily focused on server-side scripting, so you can do anything a CGI program can do, such as collect form data, generate dynamic page content, or send and receive cooki es. But PHP can do much more.Server-side scripting: This is the most traditional and main target field for PHP. We need three things to make this work. The PHP parser (CGI or server module), a web server and a web browser. We need to run the web server, with a connected PHP installation. We can access the PHP program output with a web browser, viewing the PHP page through the server. All these can run on our home machine if we are just experimenting with PHP programming. Command line scripting: We can make a PHP script to run it without any server or browser. We only need the PHP parser to use it this way. This type of usage is ideal for scripts regularly executed using cron (on *nix or Linux) or Task Scheduler (on Windows). These scripts can also be used for simple text processing tasks. Writing desktop applications: PHP is probably not the very best language to create a desktop application with a graphical user interface, but if we know PHP very well, and would like to use some advanced PHP features in our client-side applications you can also use PHP-GTK to write such programs. You also have the ability to write cross-platform applications this way. PHP-GTK is an extension to PHP, not available in the main distribution. What they use it for practical implementation issues (See: http://www.php.net/manual/en/intro-whatcando.php) PHP can be used on all major operating systems, including Linux, many Unix variants (including HP-UX, Solaris and OpenBSD), Microsoft Windows, Mac OS X, RISC OS, and probably others. PHP has also support for most of the web servers today. This includes Apache, Microsoft Internet Information Server, Personal Web Server, Netscape and iPlanet servers, Oreilly Website Pro server, Caudium, Xitami, OmniHTTPd, and many others. For the majority of the servers PHP has a module, for the others supporting the CGI standard, PHP can work as a CGI processor. So with PHP, we have the freedom of choosing an operating system and a web server. Furthermore, we also have the choice of using procedural programming or object oriented programming, or a mixture of them. Although not every standard OOP feature is implemented in PHP 4, many code libraries and large applications (including the PEAR library) are written only using OOP code. PHP 5 fixes the OOP related weaknesses of PHP 4, and introduces a complete object model.