Open source Web application development tools and languages
I find it amusing that Windows is often called the server platform with the most applications, simply because it has traditionally been the platform with the most desktop applications. But if Windows 2000 has plenty of Web application development tools, it should thank the open source community. The choice tools for building Web applications for Windows are open source and were first developed on Unix -- mostly Linux and BSD -- and then ported to the Win32 API.
But not all of these tools have been ported to Windows, or ported completely. So if you really want the widest range of choices for Web application development, you'll have to go to one of the Unix derivatives. A couple of weeks ago, I mentioned one of the most popular Web application development languages, PHP. PHP and MySQL make up the foundation of the PHP-Nuke Weblog publishing system I'm using for www.varlinux.org and www.petreley.org. (See Resources for more information on those Websites and the PHP column.)
Love-hate relationship
My PHP column sparked quite a bit of reader reaction. Some of you love PHP; others hate it. Most of those who dislike PHP say it begs for sloppy Web application development. But in PHP's defense, I would point out that
PHP is not unique in that respect. Almost all server-page language invites sloppy development, including Microsoft's Visual Basic Active Server Pages, Python Server Pages (see Resources for links), PyWX, and any other attempt to blend HTML with a scripting language. Because HTML is not a language, a lot of organization and work is required to make HTML play nicely with a language.
I have to agree with one reader who said that most code eventually gets messy, even if you start with the best intentions and up-front planning. He pointed me to a site about Extreme Programming (see Resources for links), a philosophy of testing that attempts to make messy code easier to maintain, and therefore less messy as you continue to maintain it. It seems that the technique is to write test units for different sections of code and use these test units to keep your code modularized and functional. That sounds like a lot of extra work, but it could pay off in the long run.
If you happen to like a particular scripting language -- Python, Perl, Tcl, etc. -- you aren't restricted to using the implementations in which they are integrated with HTML. For example, some modules let you write CGI-style scripts in your favorite language that will run within the Apache server for added performance. mod_python for Apache (see Resources for links) is a good way to build
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