Posted by Jacob.Lyles@gmail.com on 02/18/06 07:19

Six months ago I did not know what a server was. Since then I've
educated myself about the workings of the internet. This has included
teaching myself basic HTML, CSS, PHP, MYSQL, and Javascript with the
goal of creating dynamic, user-driven websites using the least amount
of code as possible. So far I've gotten the basics of DB driven sites
with user-customization down and I'm actually fairly good at SQL.

Now time is a scarce resource and I don't like to waste it. There are a
bewildering array of programming languages out there and I'd hate to
put a lot of effort into learning a language only to find out it
doesn't do what I need it to do.

I have heard mixed reviews of PHP (the good outweighing the bad) and I
wonder if it's the best one to invest in learning as a first language.
May impression so far is that non-scripting languages can do everything
scripting languages can (through CGI?) but also some other things that
scripting languages can not do. I suspect that scripting languages may
be somewhat limited.

On a lot of hacker sites I see the relative merits of languages such as
Python, Perl, Ruby, and Lisp discussed. However they never discuss
scripting languages such as PHP, ASP, and Cold Fusion in comparison to
these. Is this because of some fundamental limitation of scripting
languages?

Does PHP fit my needs? Is there another language that would allow me to
program faster? Am I limiting myself by learning PHP?

Your help is appreciated.

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