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Ask Slashdot: Which Web Platform Would You Use?

Posted by timothy on from the support-babies-pie-and-goodness dept.

New submitter datavirtue writes "I'm about to embark on developing active content (database driven, and web services) for the first time for my website and I have grown to love PHP. Knowing that there are other web development platforms available, and noticing some disdain for PHP in some circles, I'm curious to know which platforms slashdotters prefer along with the reasons why. Before I get started into heavy development I would like to get some opinions and more facts. Why shouldn't I use PHP?"

2 of 519 comments (clear)

  1. Wt by paugq · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Wt is the best one I have tried. I use the C++ version, although there is also a Java version (JWt).

    What makes Wt unique is its approach: widgets. You develop web applications like you were developing desktop applications. Also, the API is Qt-like (but using Boost).

    I gave up on Rails after I used Wt.

    Want a virtualization console? Take Wt, libvirt and an HTML5 VNC client and you are done.

    Need Active Directory authentication? Wt, Samba (or Windows APIs if you are on Windows), done.

    Streaming? Wt, ffmpeg libraries, done.

    Forgetting about bindings and being able to use the millions of C/C++ libraries out there was a huge relief.

    Also, size: Rails, Django (and even PHP) just do not fit in an embedded environment. Wt does.

  2. Re:ASP.NET and C# by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Interesting

    A while back now I had to do a project in ASP.Net, after being a long time PHP developer and I have to say I found it incredibly unpleasant. PHP's problem is that you have to write everything from scratch, however ASP provides you with a tonne of controls that allow you to get up and going really quickly. The problem though, is as soon as you try to do something a bit more complex with ASP.Net controls, it all falls in a heap.

    I remember having to print a list of products, and there would be sub headings mixed in amongst the rows to divide product families....

    Product Family 1
    Product 1 - $Price
    Product 2 - $Price
    Product 3 - $Price
    Product Family 2
    Product 4 - $Price

    Now I was pulling these products from a database as one giant table, and then binding the data set to the Repeater control. The problem is that ASP.Net only has templates for a Row and alternating rows, so I couldn't easily insert the separators for the different Product Familys. All of the sudden I'm having to create my own custom controls that inherited from repeaters and needed to have a detailed understanding of how ASP.Net worked and all sorts of scary things. Needless to say, it was incredibly frustrating.

    On the other hand, the same solution in PHP is solved with,
    if($PreviousProduct.Family != $CurrentProduct.Family))
    { //New Family row code goes here.
    }

    1 Line vs alot + stress. To me, that kinda summed up ASP.Net, great if you don't really know how to program, but for professionals, not so great.

    That said I love C#, and I definitely wish that PHP was more like it, PHP is a terrible mess, but its fast, simple and you can build things fairly rapidly. Combine it with a framework, and you're in pretty good hands. Although I'd really love for them to make it harder for noobs to create security issues. :\