Which language is best?

Ive been designing web pages using html and flash as a hobby for years now that i want to get serious about my web development and design i know that people want interactive and dynamic sites, therefore i need to know one or more of the more powerful languages out there. i want to know what people think is the best language to learn so that i can get started and study it.

I said PHP, but, if I get some time I still wanna try and learn some ASP.NET

aww k cool so is asp.net better than php

PHP. Not only is the manual the best for any language hands down, it also has many extensions and is extremely easy to learn.

thats what i like lol easy to learn

isnt n e one else going to have their say lol

Personally I use Php.... but at the end I believe that Php and Asp are equivalent. Maybe the first one is easier to learn and has a better manual and maybe it is also faster to load (I said maybe because I don't know if this difference is only my opinion and if it depends on the hosting).

Then I believe that all depends on your hosting language.

Personally I use Php.... but at the end I believe that Php and Asp are equivalent. Maybe the first one is easier to learn and has a better manual and maybe it is also faster to load (I said maybe because I don't know if this difference is only my opinion and if it depends on the hosting).

Then I believe that all depends on your hosting language.

I think PHP is a lot more powerful and easier to learn (if you come from a coding background that is), and when used with MySQL, you can create more advandced and more stable web applications than say with ASP and Access. However,if you a copy of Dreamweaver MX/MX 2004 then I think ASP should be easier to pick up.

cool thanks for that, i dont really come from a coding backgroun "jamesking" but im willing to learn either depending on what u guys say to be best

You probably think I will say PHP? Nope, wrong guess, there is no best language, there's only best language that's best for this or that application. But of course I voted for PHP

On a more serious note, if we talk about web development, perl scripts are sometimes better than php, but in many cases php rules. It just depends on what you are going to do with it.

As for ASP, I haven't done it for 2 years now at all, but I didn't quite like it when I did. Not sure about ASP.NET, dunno much about it.

By the way, ASP and ASP.NET are not actually languages, they are technologies, frameworks. For example you can use ASP technology, but you can write applications in VBScript, JScript, PerlScript even.

Also, XML is not quite valid here, because it's more like HTML. So, if you include XML, then you need to include HTML as well, or exclude both.

thanks for the insight

I cant say there is an ultimate language out there. They should all be learnt or at least looked at. Than its a matter of situation. So if i were on a nix* server i wouldnt go and use a non-nix* language examples of nx* languages are Perl and PHP. From there narrow it down for security PHP isnt up there yet wait for a stable PHP5 version and we should see a big difference there so if security is what is required in a given situation than Perl is your choice.

But of course its a matter of preference and what you know at the time. Im not saying you should go out and learn Perl, its not an easy language to learn straight out.

So to end this mini battle everyone has a valid point. But at the end of the day there will not be a true winner

I don't quite agree with your statement 'if you want security, Perl is your choice'. Perl requires as much effort to code a secure application as PHP or any other language, if not more. Perl is designed to eat all available resources on the system to accomplish a given task and thus imposes more responsibility on the programmer to design their application to be secure and reliable. PHP protects your from some more obvious mistakes with more simplified implementations of programming concepts, this is its strength as well as its weakness. I can't say Perl is more secure, it all depends on the programmer. You are right, there is no true winner here, but I believe we are not in a battle, but just discussing stuff in a friendly way on this nice forum

so really what u r saying the 2 of u are is that PERL and PHP are would be the prefer languages to learn??? i should really get started on one lol, i just never seem to find the time to learn and read the book that i brought since im working all the time.

Im not sure on phpdeveloper but that isnt what i am saying. Perl and PHP yes are good languages to learn with that being a good web developer you must be able to code in other languages such as Perl .Net which is a framework but ASP.Net asides within it and basically all .Net languages can be used im sure your well aware of that if not you are now.

Now these are all valid languages to learn and im not saying you have to but if you want a job in this feild and can also help as these are basically similar to rest of the languages out there

ASP - ASP 3.0 although said to be dying i still feel should be learnt but dont expect an easy transition to ASP.Net

Perl - Good Language also another dying in the web, but of course is strong in the Security feild of Network Administration (The reason why i said its a good secure language but yes you are right phpdeveloper it will depend on the programmer and to add to it the system its being run on)

PHP - My Favourite because of its simplicity, not only that is starting to mature into an amazing language

Java - I wouldnt suggest any novice to step up to this language but if your serious about Web Programming or Programming in that matter Java is a huge thing.

Now i dont expect anyone to go out and learn them over night or even think about learning them but serious people should consider at least having a couple of the languages under there belt.

sweet cheers for that gsoft

who was the idiot how post this? if you knew about programming you would know that php, asp, etc are not programming languages, they are serverside scripting. Java is a programming language which is huge, Bigger than php, asp, etc. Java does not belong among this list.

who was the idiot how post this? if you knew about programming you would know that php, asp, etc are not programming languages, they are serverside scripting. Java is a programming language which is huge, Bigger than php, asp, etc. Java does not belong among this list.

Just because they're interpreted they're not programming languages? That's ridiculous. Who cares how 'big' it is or whether or not is has to be compiled... these are merely features & requirements of the language, not disqualifying properties.

Here's the thing with me. I know way too many guys that know a little of this a little of that which is fine, but when someone looking is looking for a person with that type of knowledge there usually looking for some with advance knowledge of that language.

So personally I think it better to know 2 code languages very well inside and out, then know a little bit of a bunch of them.

Peace!