I was wondering if anybody had any comments as to useful languages needed to facilitate he development of a website project from scratch. I''m already a good C/C++ programmer, and here is what I''ve gathered so far from others: o HTML/XML/CSS - for the actual website coding o Flash/ActionScript - for animated content o Perl - for writing CGI scripts for the host server to use o Windows Programming - for other software clients will use o Java - for our tech support chatroom and discussion forums Any others? Also, I was wondering what people had to say about DarkBASIC. I hear its a real easy way to develop *decent* games, but I''m a bit concerned with how it interfaces with windows programs and multiplayer/network code. Any thoughts? Thanks guys!

Perl isn''t used so much anymore for new web content. It''s mostly been replaced by ASP and PHP.

"Sneftel is correct, if rather vulgar." --Flarelocke

quote:Original post by Foogal
HTML/XML/CSS - for the actual website coding

You will be a lot more frustrated by CSS than you expect based on hype. Just giving you a heads up.

quote:Flash/ActionScript - for animated content

You could also do the entire site in Flash, with HTML serving only to introduce the <OBJECT> tag.

quote:Java - for our tech support chatroom and discussion forums

One way to do it. Alternatively, just maintain an IRC channel. Lower investment of resources and effort.

Oluseyi - thanks for the good tips. Is there an *easier* alternative to CSS?

quote:Original post by Sneftel
Perl isn''t used so much anymore for new web content. It''s mostly been replaced by ASP and PHP.

Ack! not really.
PHP has become very popular, but according to Netcraft the current market share of Apache is 67% (March 2004). That puts a damper on ASP as a market leader. Neither these nor JSP are ''replacing'' Perl.

Perl is used by Amazon.com
http://uptime.netcraft.com/up/graph/?host=www.amazon.com

and finance.yahoo.com, hotjobs.com, etc..

Each of these languages has its merits, but perl/apache modperl is still the workhorse of the web, and behind many large sites where reliability matters. The best choice is usually the one you are the most comfortable with, or the one that does the job you need the best.

Pros ++

ASP: fast, easy to learn if you are comfortable with VB.
PHP: fast, cross-platform, popular, also easy to learn
Perl: scalable and reliable for large/critical systems, huge codebase available via CPAN, including templating systems, app frameworks, etc. for free
Flash: client-side processing, no server load.

Cons --

Asp: IIS only
PHP: no separation of code and data (same as ASP)
Perl: not buzzword-compliant, can be slow if used as plain cgi instead of mod-perl
Flash: Stuck with expensive and buggy Macromedia IDE, cludgy DB access, not particularly reliable.

I use FastTemplate with PHP to separate code and HTML. It is basic, but it''s easy to use and for suitable for many applications.

I can''t remember learning CSS, but I find it easier to style your pages rather than worry about tags and the like. Although I wouldn''t recommend the "no tables" thing, that just becomes a little hard, esp. for complex layouts. Maybe it''s just me...

- Xavier
http://www.noreality.net (FYI made using PHP and FastTemplate, CSS - no tables, no images)

quote:Original post by grazer
PHP has become very popular, but according to Netcraft the current market share of Apache is 67% (March 2004). That puts a damper on ASP as a market leader.

Apache on Windows can run ASP.

Other than legacy situations, there are few-to-no compelling reasons to choose Perl for a dynamic web implementation. Even for Unix, PHP and Python are more compelling.

quote:Each of these languages has its merits, but perl/apache modperl is still the workhorse of the web, and behind many large sites where reliability matters. The best choice is usually the one you are the most comfortable with, or the one that does the job you need the best.

Absolutely.

quote:Asp: IIS only

See above. Incidentally, there have been ASP implementations for Unix, though not very successful. It''s currently provided by Sun.

There''s also ASP .NET. Haven''t used it too much but AFAIK it''s available for Linux(via Mono) and Windows.