Language for Back-End Web Dev.

[Phonemelter]

So I am at the point where I should figure out what I want language I should focus on for doing back-end web development stuff, but am having a bit of difficulty in choosing what to do. PHP is everywhere, but dated, clunky, and sucks. Python is nice and easy, but not used a whole lot. Ruby is more common than Python, but notorious for being hard to pick up and to keep up with newer versions. The last choice, which I am leaning towards, is Node JS. I hear it is "up-and-coming" and nice to use because it doesn't require much language switching (since it is just Javascript). It seems as though the only problems people have with it is that it is low-level and callbacks are a *****, but that is about it (edit: and any database thingies).

Any advice on which route to pick?

 

[Lerber]

Depends... could be PHP, SQL, Python, Java, Javascript. Almost any language can be used for backend.

 

[Phonemelter]

That's what I said - I was asking for recommendations on what to start becoming proficient in.

 

[Lerber]

That's what I said - I was asking for recommendations on what to start becoming proficient in.

There's no "one" to do, Python and Ruby are easy. Ruby on Rails is a popular one.

 

[Phonemelter]

Keyword: Start.

I have no intentions/time to learn multiple ones at once right now.

 

[Silverlight]

as Slev said both Python and Ruby are easy to learn...

and you can finda an infographic abot PHP vs Python vs Ruby here and you can find a little information about Highest-paying programming languages here

so you can flip a coin or roll a dice to decide which to pick.

 

[havoc]

PHP is my go-to server side language. Great fun.

 

[Phonemelter]

I'm hating it.

Stuck on an assignment dealing with sessions and cookies right now, but we only talked about that for all of two minutes. Progress has been slow.

 

[Phonemelter]

Well, hating would be a bit strong, but maybe if it was taught better so far it'd be more enjoyable at the moment.

 

[MadocComadrin]

I know this hasn't been posted in in a while, but IIRC, Rails is overrated (and definitely not as popular as it was). I've even heard opinions that it's slow, unwieldy trash.

PHP is "easy" in a sense that you don't need to do a lot to get yourself a server that can process it, but to me (and others) php itself feels clunky to actually program with.
JSP/Java is somewhat complicated to set-up, but in the end, it's Java and if you can work with it, you can use it.

Python can be good, but there are python derived tools for rapid development that are better.

Scala keeps some of the Java advantages of being a programming language yet makes things a little easier and faster (to develop). I would try this if you want to do something a bit more interesting yet still keep a bunch of power and functionality.