Which language is best?

[nmeyers at javalinux.net (Nathan Meyers)]

On Mon, Dec 02, 2002 at 02:21:22PM -0500, Jared Michaels wrote:
> So, here's what I need help with. I need to find a programming language 
> that is easy for someone like me to understand -- someone who has years of 
> scripting and object-oriented language experience (VBA, Javascript, 
> VBScript, PHP, etc.), and can, with the right documentation and 
> environment, learn quickly; a language that is cross-platform -- compatible 
> with at least Windows, Linux, and Mac OS 9 or 10; something that's free and 
> can be built in a Linux environment (I have Suse Linux 7.3, but be gentle, 
> I'm a little green); and something that can be easily deployed without a 
> lot of user intervention.

Three great open-source choices for server-side HTTP scripting are PHP,
Perl, and Python. All are usable with Apache. If your big issue with
VBScript is with accessing files on the server, any of these environments
will get you there.

Please *don't* ask which language is best! They're all great - pick the
one you're most comfortable with. Since you've already had experience
with PHP, that looks like a good direction for you. I've also found PHP's
online documentation (at www.php.net) to be extremely useful and usable.

Nathan Meyers
nmeyers at javalinux.net