[thelist] Recommend a Server Side Language?

Joe Crawford jcrawford at avencom.com
Tue Apr 10 10:31:26 CDT 2001


Mark Cheng wrote:
> I've just started doing some web design, and have taught myself some CSS and
> some Javascript.
> I'm now looking for a simple, widely used server side language which is easy
> to learn.  All I want to do is be able to process some forms, maybe do a
> simple auction etc.
> Any recommendations?  References (web or book) would also be appreciated!

Sounds like a great turning point Mark. The key is always what you have
available to you. There are many good answers already -- PHP, ASP, JSP, CF,
Perl, but let me offer you a book to help you start *thinking* about the
server-side. Particularly the "web pages which are really databases" and
"web pages which are really programs" chapters of Phil Greenspun's "Philip &
Alex's Guide To Web Publishing." It'll get you started, and maybe inspired,
to start doing this stuff.

http://www.arsdigita.com/books/panda/
http://www.arsdigita.com/books/panda/server-programming
http://www.arsdigita.com/books/panda/databases-intro

This is an old book by any web metric. It was written 3 years ago. The
technical specifics are out of date. The things he says about performance of
various technologies are inevitably wrong.

But dammit, Mr. Greenspun makes you *think* about building web services with
server side languages and databases. I know he inspired me. And books which
inspire you to think are few and far between. The focus is usually on the
technology and sample code.

Best,
    Joe <http://artlung.com/>
--
Joe Crawford ||||||||||||||       mailto:jcrawford at avencom.com
||||||||||||||||||||||||             http://www.avencom.com
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||      Avencom: Set Your Sites Higher





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