Developing Web Applications

[TigerHunter]

So tonight, I was going to start re-learning Java, but then I talked to a friend who knows more about this stuff than I do and he recommended that if my long-term goal was to put up a web page with apps on it, I should learn PHP, Javascript and MySQL instead.

After struggling with Aptana Studio 3 for a bit, I came to a realization: I don't want to build a webpage. All I want to do is make a game, a very simple one, not even graphical (though I may want to make it graphic in the future just for the sake of aesthetics), to be hosted on a webpage. What programming language should I learn for that?

[SimSim]

Any language that works with html will do. Off the top of my head: perl, python, ruby, and php. Any of those would work, and I'm sure there's others that I've left out.

[TigerHunter]

Another person I asked said that I could use Java. Is that true?

[SimSim]

Yeah, forgot to include that in the list.

[Sleepy]

You could, but since Java is an interpreted language, I'd use something else. Granted, I can't see it mattering if the game you're making is that simple, but still. It's always good to learn a new language, especially something like PHP which has other practical uses.

[Distind]

Just about anything could work. I know there's a web framework for java out there, I'm blanking on the name of it. I think Eclipse supports it natively, as well as it does anything anyway. Python could be a good language to learn in terms of game programming, but I'm not sure of a python based web framework(so you'd be hosed showing anyone your work).

I'm not terribly familiar with much else, but I will point out that visual studio has an express edition and a relatively simple web forms set, or the MVC tools which are a bit better set for true web applications. With your choice of C#, Visual Basic or possibly even C++ available as languages. I can walk you through some of the basics if you give me an idea of what you're trying to do.

That said, web hosting for .net is expensive by comparison to others. But I've got a crap ton of space and could setup an application folder for you under fstdt should you use it and get anywhere that you want to share.

[SimSim]

With mod_python installed in an Apache server you can deploy a web based application. I think you can do it with CGI too.

[TigerHunter]

Thanks everyone.