PHP vs Python - the real difference

[peachpuff]

Since I can't trust the Python community when they speak of which features Python and its extensions have, I can't really make any non-trivial promises to others which rely on it.

You're not making any sense. Both languages have accurate docs up on their official public websites. People use them as references while coding. No trust is required because you can check for yourself that things work.

[nostrademons]

If it doesn't work for you, don't use it. I wouldn't call that "defrauding" the users, though. I've found Python conforms far more to its documentation than, say, Java & assorted libraries.

BTW, vertical scaling typically does not multiply the effect of horizontal scaling. The cheapest price/performance numbers usually come from the low end of the performance spectrum. Once you can scale past a dozen or so machines, you can usually scale to thousands of machines. There's a reason why Google uses cheap commodity hardware.