Debating web development toolsets

[Ken Burtch]

The June 2004 PegaSoft meeting had a survey of web development tools.  You 
can view the discussion of strengths and weaknesses at the following link:

http://www.pegasoft.ca/minutes/june_2004.html

There is, of course, my business shell, which can be embedded in web pages 
like PHP.  But the the project is still under development.

Ken B.


On Mon, 7 Jan 2008, Kareem Shehata wrote:

> 
> I'm still wrestling with the problem of choosing a good language for web
> development projects.  As I mentioned previously, I'm looking to get into
> some web development this year, but have no idea where to start.
> 
> I've looked into Ruby on Rails, and I have to admit the concepts of "Agile
> Development" sound sweet, but is it too good to be true?  Based on all of
> the articles, below I don't know who to believe anymore.  I simply don't
> have enough time to learn every language and then pick the best one -
> particularly since problems like maintenance and support can't be predicted
> by a quick tutorial session. 
> 
> Here's what I've figured out, and I don't see a good option out of the
> bunch.  Please feel free to add your own thoughts, a good discussion on the
> ins and outs of different languages would be much appreciated!
> 
> Thanks,
> 
> -kms
> 
> 
> 
> PHP: The defacto web standard?  It seems to be supported everywhere, scales
> well, and has lots of libraries, but can be difficult to maintain and get up
> to speed on.
> 
> 
> Ruby On Rails: If you believe the marketing hype, it'll do everything
> including walk the dog three times a day with one line of code.  Is this yet
> another web fad, or is RoR something worth pursuing?
> 
> 
> Java: Difficult to develop with, not widely supported, and high hardware
> requirements.  Overall, sounds like an expensive PITA.  It might be good for
> enterprise-level apps with coders immersed in java for 5+ years, but not
> good for smaller, quicker development-time apps.
> 
> 
> ASP.NET: Gotta at least look at the MS options.  I know enough of the .NET
> framework that I could probably get up to speed really quickly, and MS does
> a pretty good job of making things easy.  They also do a very bad job of
> making it flexible, scalable, or secure.  Also locks in the platform to
> being MS-only.
> 
> 
> Python: Don't know much about python beyond Mailman.  Looks like a decent
> scripting language, can it do reports and interface mySQL well?
> 
> 
> Perl: "The Original Web Language" and I know it has a rabid following.  The
> whole world can be built in Perl, but is it the best way to go?
> 
> 
> Some site references:
> Ruby on Rails debate
> <http://developers.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=08/01/02/1811218>
> (the martial arts and melodrama doesn't scare me, but idea of the community
> imploding definitely does.  I don't plan on supporting this app forever, so
> having something maintainable by others is really big)
> 
> <http://developers.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=07/09/23/1249235\>
> <http://www.oreillynet.com/ruby/blog/2007/09/7_reasons_i_switched_back_to_p_
> 1.html>
> More of the Ruby on Rails debate.
> 
> 
> 
> Comparisons
> 
> Are any of these accurate?
> <http://www.cmswire.com/cms/industry-news/php-vs-java-vs-ruby-000887.php>
> <http://www.syllogisticsoftware.com/papers/Web_Development_Technology_Compar
> ison.html>
> 
> Any other good articles comparing languages/toolsets/platforms for web
> development?
> 
> 
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