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Ask HN: What's the best web programming language?
2 points by thatguycheese 6298 days ago
I want to start developing web pages but i'm not really sure where to start. I like the idea of PHP, but i've been reading it's a spaghetti language and there are better places to start. Can anyone give me advice? Where to start, where to go? Mostly focused on web development
3 comments

there is no best language. they're all tools in a toolbox. you can smash a nail in with a screwdriver, but its easier to use a hammer.

the question is, what do you want to do? are you new to web development and want to learn a language? do you have experience with other languages? etc..

there is no best language. they're all tools in a toolbox.

That's intellectual laziness masquerading as broad-mindedness. Obviously Ruby is going to be better for most web apps than Fortran.

thats being a bit hypercritical and decontexualizing, don't you think? obviously he doesn't want to use cobol on punch cards, either, but do i actually have to spell that out? fine, i'll do it just for you:

there is no best language for web development . the subset of languages being used for modern web development are all tools in a toolbox.

I'm sorry, maybe I didn't make my question clear. I'm not really concerned with a "best" programming language. Perhaps just a place to start and where to go from there. I am familiar with HTML / CSS.
i know. again, it depends on your situation. are you familiar with C or a C-based language? or are you totally new to programming? you might find it easiest/quickest to work on PHP. if not, or if you want to learn a currently popular language, you might want to consider ruby or python.
Thanks! Read the intro and reviews on amazon. Looks decent, I'll continue reading.
Get to grips with HTML and CSS before you start worrying about anything else.