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My advice is don't tie yourself to one language but have a range you can choose from. Love or hate them I primarily use Microsoft tools. My language of choice is ASP.Net combined with jQuery, Javascript, and Bootstrap (or other web UI framework). There isn't any web application (SPA) or otherwise that I can't generate using those tools. I also use AngularJS, and MVC and even plan old HTML and CSS in a text editor.

(I have to say I am not a fan of SPA, nothing against them, just don't see the point. No I don't want to debate that)

Having been doing these web apps large and small apps for a while now I can get the best performance quite easily no matter what tools and technologies I use, and I've worked on some pretty big systems.

If you bear in mind that at the end of the day your browser pretty much expects a server to spill out HTML and perhaps a bit of Java, so the tools you use are almost irrelevant and your choice in how you want your server to spit out that HTML.

Try not to listen to the hype as its all your personal preference. Find a language and tools that achieves your objectives and go with that.

That said you might be swayed buy potential career opportunities. If you looking to build a career look at the job boards for the most popular tools. It will all change again in a few years anyway so just look to build on any experience you have

I see Java/PHP/Lamp etc requested all over the place, it's pretty popular for sure. I don't use any of that and have never been short of work.

There will always be debates on what is the best and its all nonsense. Most is subjective and personal preference and I stopped engaging in such debates years ago.

The only time I've enjoyed doing web development was when I used the GoogleWebToolkit (GWT).

All in Java, easy to debug, no hassle with quirks from browsers, etc.
A dauting learning curve, yes, which also leaves you with the syndrom of the white page at first. But also very flexible.

Further suggestion, look into using a framework (Highly recommend MVP) to help you focus your design as GWT gives so much freedom that it's hard to know where to start when new to it.

You say you "primarily freelance". So you're writing apps/sites for your customers' benefit, not your own. The choice of language therefore should be (largely) driven by what's best for them. Taking into account development costs, hosting, licensing, maintainability, future-proofing and the availability of other developers to take over when/if you are no longer around.
Now given that most websites are actually not as different as the clients would have you believe, you can choose a set of core technologies that meet, to a greater or lesser degree, the clients' generic needs, and tweak as necessary on a case-by-case basis.
Of course that applies mainly to "green-field" developments, whereas in practice you will often be constrained by existing software, servers, interfaces, client tech knowledge etc.
What I do is offer a "menu" of tech that I'm comfortable with, and recommend options on a case-by-case basis. E.g. my offerings are based mainly around .Net on Windows, but am happy to go with whatever d/b is best (if any d/b required) for the situation. ASP.Net is definitely not dependent on SQL Server! If a solution that's not on my menu is best, I recommend the client go to someone else. (And usually pocket a finders' fee, thus "earning money" even from php, ruby, python etc).
All of the above is not to say that you don't need to keep a close eye on developments and trends - of course you do. Choose those that you can get up to speed with quickly and that offer your customers some tangible benefit over what you already know. And remember - whatever language you learn, you will never have learnt it all. Smile | :)

I am making the switch to PHP/Laravel with Bootstrap on the client side.

I am doing this because I have a lot more LAMP type servers, and I bemoan the pingdom requirement I keep finding inside of .Net applications that go "offline" with non-usuage and then take 30 seconds for the first page load.

I avoided the web stuff and focused on Client application development in windows. But those days are slipping by. Plenty of maintenance work, but everyone wants either apps or phone enabled pages, which I can't blame them.

I considered Node and played with it, but I was not sure I liked the big picture as the complexity skyrocketed (which it usually does). I feel that Laravel helps manage that complexity pretty well.

I also like the separation of the environment, so I can have different clients running different revisions of the various components, and have things still work. I like vagrant and the process of using a virtual machine to manage a lot of the environment specific stuff so I can migrate my laptop and just load the VM up and be back up and running without re-installing everything.

As always, YMMV. The final upside to something like PHP. There will always be PHP work, much like their will always be C# work...

Well you already did a good research....
I can tell you go for C#, why? well you can say that almost all the other languages are flavors of JS, ones with new syntax's that at the ends compile to JS (or Java), it's more like you are tying a new framework that a new language (ok, I'm not being to deep on this, but all those feels like JS). Then Microsoft will look more like a new language/approach will have more value.

With C# you can do a lot of good work in the BE and you then can compliment with all you already know about JS, or use the new approach and do any new Microsoft stuff.... also you can always use the old approaches and they will work.

But I agree with you, C# projects are not good for small webpages, but for that you already know the answer, use one of your already know templates and that will work. If your really learn how to do Wep Apps with C# you will acquire new knowledge and skills that are not possible with the other languages.

There are so many web development frameworks around, most of them are rubbish created for crappy programmers (if you see MVC keep away).
For scalability, Erlang with Yaws is probably the best, closely followed by nginx with LuaResty, and node.js with Express (but you need to be a good programmer as these are event based, not OO based).
For small sites PHP or python is OK without the OO crap.
Do not use Java or .Net based frameworks as these are rubbish at scaling, Statefull systems do not scale well (true web based development is ALL STATELESS).
A lot of developers are applying windows app based development to web development and end up in a mess.

Oh, good for you for taking to time to be objective. If you're doing this for personal work, I am and always will be a fan of PHP. It's A LOT less fuss than ASP.NET, and can be just as fast if done right. However, I think PHP's biggest advantage has less to do with PHP and more to do with it being natively developed for Linux/Unix, which will always make for a superior OS to Windows for servers.

There is a downside, I believe the learning curve is higher. Also, most PHP devs don't seem to be as professional. It's unfortunate, but that's just the way the cookie crumbles. However, once you understand PHP and Linux/Unix inside and out, you can do things like recompile a custom build in PHP and the OS kernel to really scale down and make things super fast, since anything you don't need is pulled right out of the engine on a binary level. This is impossible to do in Windows with ASP.NET.

I could go on and on, but for backend web dev, PHP is a pretty darn good way to make a web page, and do so on in a way that's OS agnostic. However, jobs in PHP don't tend to pay as much as the Microsoft world, but even still from a tech standpoint you can do more with it.

Jeremy Falcon

What happened at the highest levels of the U.S. government on that day, compiled from multiple informants who were with the President, and many of the most important political figures of the day. The article is lavishly illustrated with photographs taken of the President and his party as the tragedy unfolded.

I regard this essay as historical writing of the highest quality: [^]. imho, it is not an essay that "pushes" any political agenda, or casts hindsight's judgement on those it covers. If anything, I think it corrects certain common beliefs based on rumor (and the usual distortions of history perpetrated for political purposes).

«There is a spectrum, from "clearly desirable behaviour," to "possibly dodgy behavior that still makes some sense," to "clearly undesirable behavior." We try to make the latter into warnings or, better, errors. But stuff that is in the middle category you don’t want to restrict unless there is a clear way to work around it.» Eric Lippert, May 14, 2008

Thank you; that was an exceptionally worthwhile read.

"There are three kinds of lies: lies, damned lies and statistics."
- Benjamin Disraeli

Good link. Thank you

Charlie Gilley
<italic>Stuck in a dysfunctional matrix from which I must escape...

"Where liberty dwells, there is my country." B. Franklin, 1783
“They who can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety.” BF, 1759

I think "compelling" was a bit of an understatement; an absolutely riveting read.

Similar to Ted Bundy or other psychopaths, George Bush displayed a goofy, detached quality. Feigning surprise, and expressing faux regret at "what happened"

Can someone get Griff to page the nurse?

I wanna be a eunuchs developer! Pass me a bread knife!

I think he already did[^]

M.D.V.

If something has a solution... Why do we have to worry about?. If it has no solution... For what reason do we have to worry about?
Help me to understand what I'm saying, and I'll explain it better to you
Rating helpful answers is nice, but saying thanks can be even nicer.

This members account has been disabled. Could his spam be deleted in the various forums, especially here?

modified 12-Sep-16 12:26pm.

Time lapse captures the construction of One World Trade Center[^]

Get me coffee and no one gets hurt!

I find it terrifying that it's 15 years since that awful day that Gavin Macmahon lost his life. That day, Gav's parents had decided to journey out of New York while their son went to work. They had travelled from Chester le Street to spend time with their son. Today, I grieve for their loss.

RIP Gav, and everyone else who lost their lives as the result of the attacks that day.

This space for rent

I remember sitting in the project office in Budapest. One of the Hungarian's was just checking the news and he said "F*** ... no ..." and gestured us all over. Eight of us, if I recall, stood there reading the news.
Later that evening we went to for a checkup for Mrs Wife and it was confirmed she was pregnant with our first. That night we sat up watching BBC World, not knowing what to make of it. Rose | [Rose]

veni bibi saltavi

Vilmos, that sounds horribly familiar. The first Gulf War began just days after we found out my wife was pregnant with our daughter. 'Mrs Wife' was largely oblivious, however, since she was thoroughly preoccupied with morning sickness and trying very hard not have her upper gastrointestinal tract invert itself.

Software Zen: delete this;

At the time I wondered what kind of world we were going to bring this child into. Not as bad as we feared but worse than we dreamed.

veni bibi saltavi

I know how you feel , we were in a tiny little country bar in Brittany having spent all day on a motorbike to get there and the little old lady who was serving us had very little English but kept saying "terrible m'sieu terrorist 50000" we eventually got to our house and watched it all on the news, it was like watching a film I couldn't believe it was true.

We can’t stop here, this is bat country - Hunter S Thompson RIP

That day must count as one of the worst for civilized people everywhere.
Rose | [Rose]

Get me coffee and no one gets hurt!

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