Many gurus have been talking about these programming languages in this great forum. I want to start learning one a website development project. Pls, which should i go for?

PHP is the easiest to get started with, but on the long run Python could serve you better in some cases.

^^ shameless plug . @poster seun's right. By the way nairaland currently runs on python.

Php is your best bet,easy to learn,good community support

Ruby has some really great libraries for web development (and for programming in general), so I prefer it to some of the alternatives.

Python is also good.

PHP and Perl, I don't have a very high opinion of, but again you can find good frameworks to use.

Python- PHP- Javascript.

ekt_bear: Ruby has some really great libraries for web development (and for programming in general), so I prefer it to some of the alternatives.

Python is also good.

PHP and Perl, I don't have a very high opinion of, but again you can find good frameworks to use.

Do you know much about ruby? I 've been on venture into ruby on rails ,but could u imagine I got stuck when i wanted to use vim for editing, only to realize that vim was not installed.yet i made sure that i checked it while installing with cygwin. did a "which vim" ,and there was no instance of vim path. Hello, is there any way i can install or compile into they already installed bundle of ruby on rails, I've already installed sqlite,git,curl,ruby,ruby gem,rails,make and would not like to start all over again.


Nota Bene: I did singly checked vim to download and install only vim using cygwin, but its wasting my bandwidth with lots of dependencies.
Any Idea?

I usually use Gedit or Redcar for editing my Ruby code.

I used Aptana Radrails a few years ago on windows. It is pretty decent.

@OP: In this day and age, if you're absolutely new to web development, the first question you probably should be asking is what you want to achieve eventually -- if you just want to do it for fun, sure PHP will get you up and running; it's easy to learn but quite hard to do serious stuff with it.

The best thing is, instead of learning bits and pieces, pick up a language (say PHP) and learn a popular framework around it (generally, you learn backwards). Say you pick Drupal, or Wordpress, you can learn how to develop plugins for them or template, which would require you to learn enough PHP to do that or enough CSS/HTML/JS.... Learning from scratch these days is just a pain, learn enough to start with and learn as you go, don't get bugged down with archaic language features.

Some sites that can get you rolling:
http://net.tutsplus.com/
http://learncodethehardway.org/
http://ruby.railstutorial.org/

To name a few.

8figure: I prefer vim cos that's what i use on linus, and I now run linux instance on windows pc, moreover switching to new editor cos I can't seem to figure out how to make it work on my linus instance is not a good idea at all.

So am still waiting ekt_bear

You might like this, http://www.jetbrains.com/ruby/ if you're not a hardcore linux'er, VIM or EMac for Rails dev isn't that productive.

If you want to use vim, just find, download and install vim for windows.

But it probably isn't the most efficient or pleasant way to write and edit ruby code.

I like it for certain tasks, but this isn't one of them.

You don't suffer in any way from using a good IDE....

it is just a productivity tool. You don't have to use any features in it that you think are "cheating" or inhibit your learning..

This really shouldn't be that complicated a matter.

PHP is the best for web application

eazyd:
Python- PHP- Javascript.

It should have been the reverse

Seun:
PHP is the easiest to get started with, but on the long run Python could serve you better in some cases.

well, in the real sense of it, none of this language is better than the other on web development. while php is easy and most recommended for web apps due to avalabilty of hosting service, python is however going to serve you better when your application would need to do lots of mathematical operations and data science alogrithm. also looking at the fact that learning python gives you an upper hand as u can delve from software development to web development and even recently to mobile development (andriod), it is relatively simpler to learn than php in the real sense.
note: i am a core php developer (codeigniter to be precise), but i just feel python is a better option asides hosting.
and you won't get many script kiddies trying to mess with your site by uploading php codes as images

kodewrita:
^^ shameless plug . @poster seun's right. By the way nairaland currently runs on python.

nairaland na pure php. wetin dey here wey php no fit do

virus05:
nairaland na pure php. wetin dey here wey php no fit do

Yup, i wonder ooh, if you are into web, php is your best choice, cause it is developed specifically for web dev. Nothing more, imagine a man who is experienced in doing something well amd he dedicates his life only to improve in doing that task compared to a man who has divided attention trying to do more than one thing at a time...guys let face reality ,php is one of the best if you want to purely explore web development., no side talks, and php keeps improving, soon you would never be able to imagine what you can use php to accomplish in the nearest future,

virus05:
nairaland na pure php. wetin dey here wey php no fit do

nairaland used to run on php... smf (simple machine forums) to be specific, but it has since been rewritten with python and currently runs on python

Seun:
PHP is the easiest to get started with, but on the long run Python could serve you better in some cases.

Fast forward to 2016, can you still say the same thing sir?