Comment by Oliver Godby on "What language should I mix with HTML and PHP?"

Honestly if you are starting out on your own and you don't have to fit in with a team of existing PHP developers then go with Python or Ruby (or perhaps Groovy if you like the JVM) instead.

PHP is not a language that I would recommend to anyone who already knows how to program. With Ruby you've got Rails for big heavy projects, Padrino and Sinatra for lighter weight stuff, and with Python you have Django and Pyramid when you need "batteries included" web frameworks and Flask and Bottle when you need something lightweight. Groovy has Grails (like Rails but for Groovy) and Ratpack for the more lightweight approach.

Don't misunderstand I've had PHP jobs on and off for the last 16 years and it has been good to me, but once I started working in languages like Python and Ruby as well I started to realise the downsides of PHP.

Also, if you are going to do freelance webdev you are going to need to focus some of your attention on JavaScript; some things need to be scripted in the UI. That and you will need to look at CSS, specifically CSS 3, and HTML, specifically HTML5 these days, but XHTML 4 as well.

Good luck - if you steer clear of PHP you will have a much happier time...

Another option instead of PHP is Javascript with nodejs, so you have one language to learn for both front and backend instead of two.

That's a good point Joe. My only concern at the moment is that nodeJS is still not really ready for primetime imho, but I realise that the Jury is out and that some people flat out don't agree with me, so it's all a bit subjective ;-)

You people (and theres quite a few here) that proclaim PHP is a bad language baffle me. A good chunk of the internet uses it; there's a ton of money and freelance jobs to be had using it and PHP 7 is by far better then 5.x and is being taken seriously again. Frameworks for Ruby and Python were mentioned, but not for PHP? Is this your lack of experience with PHP or some personal issue? PHP has Laravel, Wordpress, Lumen, Composer, etc... All very comparable in functionality to everything you listed.

I 100% agree with @mgiambanco, PHP is widely popular and will give some basic knowledge on scripting / OO hybrid languages work, and why they work so well. And this is coming from someone who never really got into PHP, I just know it's widely popular and isn't going away any time soon.

Wow, lots of interesting perspectives. Just thought I'd mention that I chose PHP 5/6, and now v7 because it is a piece of cake, very very similarly structured to old school OO basic so it was easy to pick up, and is interpretive like basic unless there is a PHP compiler??!? It is also standard on LAMP, with millions of sample apps available on the weeb. I've also learned that "Java is to javascript as car is to carpet", and will need to read up as to why...I always though they were related, but not exactly the same.

Search Hashnode