There is a natural progression of programmers. The first stage is Newb. These must be guided. The next is geek. These know enough to talk over people's heads and get the work done. After that come the wizards who are able to (as if by magic) produce solutions that are 10 times better then a geek's but in 1/3 of the time. The final state of a programmers is becoming a god. It is at this stage where solutions are found and written to problems that have not even come to attention but were forseen. The average age of a programming god is 39.5. It is in this programming god state that programmers can sometimes perform such miraculous feats of code that they actually phase shift to another demensional plane where they are one with the computer programs they are writing. After a while... they never come back. The only rememaining evidence is the occasional glitch in programs and computer networks that enraged them in their earlier states. (queue the x-files music)
Try comparing LAMP to LAMJ. Use Linux because it the best for servers. Use Apache to server up the static content because it's the best at that. Use MySQL as the database. Then, really, the only thing to compare is Java vs. PHP and that really just depends on your project.
Some things are pre-build in PHP and so easy to use that it makes no sense to take the time redo the work in Java. A great example of that is phpBB http://www.phpbb.com/ . I wouldn't dream of rewriting a BB when it only takes an hour (maybe two) to install phpBB but I will spend the time to make a Java program that uses the same database as phpBB to create a customizable RSS feed based off of personal encrypted tokens that pulls only the thread that person wants from those boards. So, there you have it! JLAMP!
The main difference between the two is this...
Java
Dependable and proven
Compiled (so it runs faster than PHP which is interpereted for server side programming)
More extensive and versitile libraries
Better programming environments
Multi-threaded to better handle heavy loads
Better pay in the market place so keep those skills up!
PHP
The latest Fad in server side technology (ah, I can here the flaming now, but you can't deny the truth)
More community support
Slightly easier language to learn
Easier environment to setup and install to
More pre-written solutions that you can plug in less than an hour
The main thing is to get the job done quickly, done well, and be easily maintainable. That might just mean mixing technologies. I am a huge fan of Java (except for applets, whoever uses applets should be shot) but only an idiot would not use all the tools at hand.
Have you considered having truly contested territory in which there would be castles/fortresses that could be held by either side in the regular world outside of instances? Perhaps there would be a flag in the inner keep that if a side were to capture then the fortress and surrounding area could be controlled for a while by that side. The inner keep could have epic gear and high honor points as rewards to keep the high levels interested. Once a castle was held by a faction, their own guards would replace the guards of the other. I just think it would make contested territories much more interesting and realistic if a faction could conquer an area. What say you?
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There is a natural progression of programmers. The first stage is Newb. These must be guided. The next is geek. These know enough to talk over people's heads and get the work done. After that come the wizards who are able to (as if by magic) produce solutions that are 10 times better then a geek's but in 1/3 of the time. The final state of a programmers is becoming a god. It is at this stage where solutions are found and written to problems that have not even come to attention but were forseen. The average age of a programming god is 39.5. It is in this programming god state that programmers can sometimes perform such miraculous feats of code that they actually phase shift to another demensional plane where they are one with the computer programs they are writing. After a while... they never come back. The only rememaining evidence is the occasional glitch in programs and computer networks that enraged them in their earlier states. (queue the x-files music)
Java is far from dead. In fact it recently overtook C++ on sourceforge for the number of projects in development. See here...http://www.jroller.com/page/matsh?entry=jav a_history_was_made_today.
Try comparing LAMP to LAMJ. Use Linux because it the best for servers. Use Apache to server up the static content because it's the best at that. Use MySQL as the database. Then, really, the only thing to compare is Java vs. PHP and that really just depends on your project.
Some things are pre-build in PHP and so easy to use that it makes no sense to take the time redo the work in Java. A great example of that is phpBB http://www.phpbb.com/ . I wouldn't dream of rewriting a BB when it only takes an hour (maybe two) to install phpBB but I will spend the time to make a Java program that uses the same database as phpBB to create a customizable RSS feed based off of personal encrypted tokens that pulls only the thread that person wants from those boards. So, there you have it! JLAMP!
The main difference between the two is this...
The main thing is to get the job done quickly, done well, and be easily maintainable. That might just mean mixing technologies. I am a huge fan of Java (except for applets, whoever uses applets should be shot) but only an idiot would not use all the tools at hand.
Have you considered having truly contested territory in which there would be castles/fortresses that could be held by either side in the regular world outside of instances? Perhaps there would be a flag in the inner keep that if a side were to capture then the fortress and surrounding area could be controlled for a while by that side. The inner keep could have epic gear and high honor points as rewards to keep the high levels interested. Once a castle was held by a faction, their own guards would replace the guards of the other. I just think it would make contested territories much more interesting and realistic if a faction could conquer an area. What say you?