Trying to decide between PHP and Python

[Chris Rebert]

On Thu, Jan 6, 2011 at 11:11 AM, John Nagle <nagle at animats.com> wrote:
> On 1/4/2011 12:20 PM, Google Poster wrote:
>>
>> About once a year, I have to learn yet another programming language.
>> Given all the recommendations (an outstanding accolade from Bruce
>> Eckel, author of "Thinking in Java") I have set my aim to Python.
>> Sounds kinda cool.
>
>    If you're just doing simple web-based services, PHP is the
> way of least resistance.  It's supported by almost all hosting
> services.  Trying to run Python on shared hosting is generally
> painful.  Either you're stuck running in CGI, which means you
> take the cost of a Python load on every transaction, or you
> have to find someone who will let you run long-running
> processes so you can run FCGI/WSGI or some Python framework.

VPS hosting can be surprisingly cheap these days though (e.g. prgmr's
super-cheapo plan is $4-5/month); you get root access, so setting up a
Python web application is much easier.

Cheers,
Chris