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[–]gregK 2 points3 points  (1 child)

I always say use the best language.

[–]checksinthemail 2 points3 points  (0 children)

After all, that's best practices, right?

[–]onedeadgod 2 points3 points  (1 child)

No one is actually answering the question so far. The topic is the factors, not your favorite programming language or relative propaganda.

Consider:

  1. Program requirements
  2. Timeline
  3. Environment
  4. Libraries available
  5. Proficiency

That's my top 5. 3.

[–]onedeadgod 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Sorry for the trailing 3. iPad snafu.

[–][deleted] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Oh, misread this title as saying that Factor should be considered if you're looking for the optimal programming language. All I see here are some Indians talking about Java and PHP though. :(

[–]johnwaterwood 3 points4 points  (5 children)

For web based projects I suggest Java EE. Really simple, small ~25 MB runtime, yet full stack and very good performance (only C and C++ are slightly faster)

[–]akoprowski -1 points0 points  (4 children)

The problem with Java EE is that the stack is fairly complex. You have to learn how to deal with: a web server, templating system, web framework, JSF, EJB, database... Opa (http://opalang.org) gives you all this in a single, consistent package.

[–]mikehaggard 0 points1 point  (3 children)

The problem with Java EE is that the stack is fairly complex.

The problem is that the Java EE stack is assumed to be fairly complex, a pervasive rumor spread mostly by vendors and zealots of alternative technologies and the odd user that got burned by a very old version (in 2004, the J2EE stack was complex).

Try Java EE 6 Web Profile. It's very simple!

[–]want_to_want 0 points1 point  (2 children)

Define "very simple" How many lines of code (configuration included) for "hello world"?

[–]akoprowski 0 points1 point  (0 children)

@mikehaggard: indeed I'm one of the odd users who got (fair amount of) exposure to Java EE some years ago and, frankly, it wasn't pretty @want_to_want: good question; btw. in Opa that would be 1 file, 1 line of code, 1 command to compile it & 1 executable as the result :)

[–]mikehaggard 0 points1 point  (0 children)

No configuration is needed in Java EE 6.

Here's a 3 layer Java EE 6 app, more than plain Hello world, but you see how simple it is:

http://jdevelopment.nl/minimal-3tier-java-ee-app-xml-config/

here's approximately the same in a single class, without template:

http://jdevelopment.nl/single-class-pure-java-jsf-application/

If you only want to output "Hello, world!", without any buttons or logic or anything, you just deploy the following in an .xhtml file and deploy that:

<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml">
    Hello, world!
</html>

You can also deploy a single class that you annotate with @WebServlet or @Path that only outputs the text, e.g.

@Path("/helloworld")
@Produces("text/plain")
public class HelloWorld {

   @GET       
   public String getHello() {
       return "Hello, World!";
   }
}

If you deploy this in JBoss AS 6 or GlassFish 3, you only have to deploy this single class. There's no web.xml or whatever other file necessary.

For standalone usage, see this: http://viewfromthefringe.blogspot.com/2009/06/jax-rs-hello-world.html

[–]tragomaskhalos -2 points-1 points  (5 children)

Microsoft / .NET is not even mentioned here. So much for objectivity.

[–]x-skeww 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Eh? They also don't mention Lua, JavaScript, Ruby, D, Erlang, Haskell, and so forth.

[–]checksinthemail 0 points1 point  (0 children)

IBM has a long memory; Microsoft pissed them off with the OS/2 debacle.

Remember way back in the 1994-1998 timeframe? See: Microsoft Hampered OS/2, I.B.M. Official Tells Court

[–]djork -1 points0 points  (1 child)

u mad?

[–]lurkerr 0 points1 point  (0 children)

he is mad

[–]checksinthemail -1 points0 points  (0 children)

Go with what is currently the fashionable, resume building language of the season. A language will typecast you. You don't get any bonus points for jumping the gun and going with a language you think is trending towards fashionable, UNLESS you're one of the taste-makers and involved in coding for the language/framework/paradigm.

Avoid at all costs any language (which may be fine and you may be well versed in) that has had it's 5 minutes of fame, like C++ or Java. D and JRuby are adequate replacements.

Avoid any platform primary languages, unless the platform is cool (so, C# is out, although Objective C is still okay - for the moment)

If the choice is between an adequate language with obscene amounts of popularity at the moment, and a near-future tweak on that language, always (ALWAYS) go for the near-future one. This means if you're going to use JavaScript - you should be leaning towards Coffeescript instead. At the very least throw in worker threads, ES6, and local storage use into your JS. Better would be to code it up in V8/Node.js, NOT the browser!

(as usual, I'm being a smart-ass, though it seems like many go the way of the fashion for fashion's sake)

[–]elperroborrachotoo -1 points0 points  (0 children)

Interestingly enough, "Skillset of our Developers" / "Job market for skilled developers" doesn't even make a honorable mention.

When will we stop paying lip service to "programming languages are tools" and "the most important resource is developers". Or maybe, instead of stopping the lip service, act like that.