Python vs PHP (& Java?)

[Gilles Lenfant]

Some answers in short:
You can do in Python as in PHP (see
http://sourceforge.net/projects/modsnake/ ).
But, whatever language you choose (even Python), it's not a "clever"
approach in application centric Web servers because you mix HTML
(presentation layer) and scripts (data process layer) in the same file.
This site programmation approach leads to some mess in big projects
involving both programmers and web designers.
Keep this kind of approach for small application sites.

Java vs Python... well.

My pro java half brain says that it's a statically typed language (some bugs
that raise at compile time in java when they raise at run-time in python).
Prefer java if the security is a critical issue.
You can make transparent distributed web software in Java (applets + RMI)
because most browsers include a Java engine.
If you got lots of $$, there is number of solution providers based on common
java API (J2EE, JMS...) when Zope is the only app server solution based on
Python.

My pro python half brain say's it's twice faster to go from design to a full
featured application.
You can't make system specific code in Java.
You can do in Python (almost) all you can do in Java with less computer
resources.

In the project I'm working on, there's a mix of Java (WebObjects application
server) and Python.

We use WebObjects for all applications with HTML GUI, when we use Python for
batch processes that do not need to be fast and that are executed behind a
Firewall.