hello,
Can ye please recommend a what would be the best scripting language(s) to learn for web development.
My background is bit of perl, transact sql etc. Strictly scripting. I had a look as asp.net which is ok but find it very hard to layout and getting into the c# side of it is too much.
So basically what scripting languages could some one do most with. There's too much out there to decide what to start with.
Thanks

Definitely PHP. And if you want a more agile environment to code applications, Ruby on Rails. Both are open source with huge communities and support. I wouldn't put my eggs into a proprietary basket anymore - learning .NET will only get you so far career-wise.

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Can't the same be said for PHP and RoR?

It depends on what type of development you are going into I suppose. A lot of large commercial companies such as financial institutes use .Net and JSP religiously.

But I agree about PHP and RoR. I would personally go for either of them. A mate is developing in RoR at the moment and I asked him would it be better to expand on my limited knowledge of PHP or to look at RoR more. He advised me to go full hogg with RoR. I can't remember what reasons he gave at the time though.

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Not really. When you're developing .NET, you're developing for a proprietary platform. It's the same with, say, Oracle DBA's. Why box yourself in like that when you could do all your development on a supported, open source platform that can be migrated from environment to environment? And in terms of the learning curve, open source frameworks and languages seem to have a lot more natural progression than proprietary ones. The different iterations of ASP/.NET and Java have been a bit ridiculous.

Trust me, that's not a good endorsement.

I'd recommend both!

Thanks Lads, i m goin to learn php.

I think we're all generally going to be partial to the languages we work in but I think it's hard to argue against starting with PHP for the sheer ease of use, OpenSource-ness and relatively large feature set.
To get you started I'd recommend getting EasyPHP or XAMPP, PHP Expert Editor (has built-in server so you can run scripts in editor) and of course religiously checking php.net documentation.

Unless I had to choose right now between using PHP or RoR for a project I don't really see it as an either/or choice because I plan to learn RoR though I know PHP very well because they have different advantages and purposes.

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PHP ftw!

Havent used RoR as of yet but PHP was so easy to pick up.

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One of the handiest packages I've come across is Wamp Server. If you want to play around with PHP, then this is the business. Just load it onto your machine and you get the full spread - Apache, PHP, MySQL and various other tools like phpmyadmin. Dead simple to install too.

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Similar package is Webserv:

SourceForge.net: WebServ

Takes away the annoyance of configuring them all on Windows.

I'm a PHP developer and i would totally disaggree with this view. .NET (C#) and Java are widely known as more robust languages and there for .NET and Java developers get more money as a general rule.

Industry doesn't like the way PHP has no real support structure or solid widely accepted framework. There has to be accountablity for big business. If you don't want to work with blue chips then this isn't a problem but if you do then you usually have to have either .NET or Java in your locker. Blue chips have the money. MS isn't going away anytime soon. So career-wise .NET would probable be the best option.

In saying all that if the original poster isn't willing to learn C# then PHP sounds like the best option. RoR is also a good option for web application development but if you are just going for website scripting i'd stick with PHP.