php vs python

[Curtis]

Jerry Stuckle wrote:
> Curtis wrote:
>> Paul Rubin wrote:
>>> notbob <notbob at nothome.com> writes:
>>>> Well, that's my actual question, then.  Is php really so bad I'm just
>>>> wasting my time?  Or is it really the quickest way to blog 
>>>> functionality?
>>>
>>> php is very easy to get started with and some big sites have been
>>> written in it.  There is lots of low cost php hosting available.  It
>>> is not as good a language as Python.  However, Python's advantages are
>>> strongest in more complex projects.  For simple stuff, php is frankly
>>> less hassle just because of its wide deployment and that extensive
>>> function library that the blog post your quoted described as a bad
>>> thing.  Python's libraries are not bad, but php's are more intensely
>>> focused on web apps and includes what you need as part of the standard
>>> build.  With Python, if you want a database adapter or web template
>>> framework, you have to choose between a bunch of different ones and
>>> download and configure it which often involves head scratching when
>>> the auto-install stuff hits some quirk of your system.  With php, it's
>>> all right there when you flip the switch.
>>>
>>> Knowing lots of languages is good for you.  php is probably your
>>> quickest route to getting a rudimentary web app running.  Python
>>> is a longer term project.  Do both.
>>
>> PHP is more than capable for handling large projects, not just small 
>> scripting jobs. However, Paul's right about PHP being more driven 
>> toward web development, where as Python may be better for different 
>> types of apps.
>>
>> Even then, I think your first reply was best, it just comes down to 
>> what you have more fun writing. Both languages are equally capable of 
>> getting the job done.
>>
>> -- 
>> Curtis
> 
> Not true.  PHP is quite capable of writing large, non-web based 
> projects.  While it's non-browser based display capabilities are 
> somewhat lacking (although there are third party libraries which help a 
> lot), I've written some pretty complicated batch scripts in the past.
> 

Yeah, I see I may have spoken too soon. When I think about it, the PHP 
extensions available do cover a lot of ground. I've played around with 
php-gtk in the past, but nothing major.

To clarify: what I meant to say is that php is especially well suited 
for web development, I didn't mean that it wasn't capable of doing 
non-web based development.

--
Curtis