Which server-side programming should i choose.

[Matt Heath]

>
>
>PHP!!  All the way...easiest, free, likely to be more
>secure than Perl if used as Apache module than CGI.
>

More secure, how so?
mod_php runs as the same user as the Web Server, giving file permission 
to look at any file the web server can.
Safe_dirs are turned off by default

I've been hosted on commercial sites where I could easily read the files 
of the other virtually hosted users, able to rip database passwords and 
steal source code.
(reading through some of that code taught me about PHP class semantics 
but that's another story 8)


>Beautiful C-like syntax (/usr/src/* might even make
>more sense to you after learning it...) great user
>community.
>

beautiful?

the function names alone are a pile of  cruft upon cruft

take a look here :
http://www.php.net/manual/en/ref.array.php
or
http://www.php.net/manual/en/ref.strings.html

PHP reveals what it is - a hotch potch of stuff built one function at a 
time by a hundred monkeys

string *strchr* ( string haystack, string needle)
mixed *str_replace* ( mixed needle, mixed new_needle, mixed haystack)
chop <cid:part1.01020708.08030401 at thebigchoice.com> -- Alias of 
*rtrim()* <cid:part2.03000902.04090801 at thebigchoice.com>

If you want beauty, use python

I'm a professional PHP programmer of 5+ years; secure, elegant and 
beautiful are not words I would instantly think of.

Easy to learn, with a big target painted on your shoes.

Ever seen something like this :

$r = mysql_execute("select * from table_1 where id=$_GET[id];");