HN Explorer

Ask HN: Which one to choose Scala/Ruby On Rails/Java/PHP

2 points by pers3us ↗ HN
Let me explain the problem where i am stuck right now. I am not an expert in any of those languages, the best I know is C++ and right now I am trying to develop a web application. I am fairly familiar with Java and PHP. The application is a kind of summarizer which will take user input as certain keywords they want to know the public opinion about it. Lets say i search for iPad2 and my web application gives users a % positivity/Negativity in public opinion, by analysing various blogs (which the links are fetched from search engines, and parsed) and finding what each one says.This is a brief description. What my prob is that this particular application would be CPU intensive and I don't want my application to be slow. Another thing is that hosting the web application shouldn't be so costly as i am currently starting off my career(just a college pass-out n working as dev in a MNC).Also the language should not be so hard to learn as i don't have lengthy hours in my hands, which i can devote. I have things in mind but i am stuck here at the choice of language to move ahead. Any suggestion would be greatly appreciated. Thank in advance!

5 comments

[ 2.8 ms ] story [ 23.6 ms ] thread
sandyc
I love Scala, but it's tools at this point in time don't lend itself to be an easily adopted new language (unless you're keen on getting your hands dirty setting up the right dev. environment). I use Java for work, and have dabbled in PHP, but I think for learning a new language for a web project, you should give Ruby On Rails a go.
realize
More important than the language is the architecture.

I'd recommend using Amazon's AWS services. They have a free starter offering that lets you build and test your application on a small server and then scale it up effortlessly to larger and more instances as required, only paying for what you actually use.

If you go with AWS then either Java or PHP would make sense, since there are good SDKs for these languages.

Go to the AWS articles page and search for "architecture", there are lots of good resources to get you thinking about options.

[deleted]
(comment deleted)
[dead] realize
(they have a ruby SDK too, but I'm not familiar with how good it is - I know the java one is fairly mature).
minalecs
I think you need to just stick with what you know best. Why not write back end services in C++ and create some services, that can be consumed with Java or PHP. When creating projects/products.. your main goal should be to get it out to get feedback on wether or not people will even use it. I wouldn't suggest AWS for cpu intensive. I would suggest Linode, you can start small and just upgrade to large instances as needed.