Scripting..And YOU!
PERL, PHP, & ASP…Oh MY!
Since I’ve delved into the world of web design I’ve noticed that many website owners, in their growth as a “web developer” tend to become specialized in one scripting language…period.
I do realize that when starting out learning ANY scripting language for the web, that the golden rule is to have a bottle of aspirin and a bottle of your favorite alcoholic beverage at the ready. The challenge though is not to become too attached to that one language.
For the majority of us, scripts allow us to accomplish a goal (provide password protection, have a forum, create a TGP, etc.) for our website(s) and unless you are adept at creating your own scripts…the idea of limiting one’s self to one language is problematic when dealing with websites, unless you’re adept in picking up and building scripting applications.
So which is the more popular language to begin with?
I’d have to say…it depends. For now, the popular language is AJAX (Asynchronous JavaScript and XML), and before that it was PHP (the “Pretty Home Page” Hypertext Language). As technology improve, new – PHP – or improved – AJAX – scripting languages will emerge and as new developers jump onto the new technology, new applications/scripts will arrive OR more exciting revisions of older applications will spring forth.
So do I just become a JOTMON (Jack of all Trades – Master of NONE)
What I recommend to people working on their own sites is to find that tool/application that best suits your purpose and from there stick with that language as your base. You’ll hear many “evangelists” touting the power of PERL or the flexibility of PHP, blah blah blah…ad nausium. To me that’s putting the horse before the cart…because if you spend the time to master,say, PERL then what do you do when you find a PHP script that seems to better accomplish your goal?
A good rule of thumb is to stick to two scripting languages for your applications…this will make it easy to track application and language updates, general security, and so forth.