[mmilano]

Are you sure the assessment web programming being a series of hacks on hacks isn't an artifact of inheriting a fairly long-lived and large code base?

I don't think I've touched a large codebase that has been around for a long time which didn't feel hackish.

I'd make the evaluation of web programming based on a language and framework that feels most proper to you, and based on the use of it with a brand new app.