Ask HN: Interface Engineer Deciding Which System Language To Learn

2 points by ARolek 15y ago ↗ HN

I have focused the majority of my web development career on developing web interfaces with Javascript/CSS/HTML. I'm pretty comfortable on the command line in a Linux environment. Last night I started playing the AWS EC2 and I'm itching to start building a dynamic application. The last piece is picking a language, the problem, there are so many I don't know which one to invest my time in.

Right now I'm considering:

PHP Python Ruby on Rails Node.js

Any insight is greatly appreciated. Thanks!

5 comments

[ 2.9 ms ] story [ 20.6 ms ] thread

wmat 15y ago ↗

It doesn't matter. Just pick one and execute.

rhartsock 15y ago ↗

I'm a front end guy as well and in the last couple of years I've been picking up PHP. Love it.

ARolek 15y ago ↗

All the engineers I work with are PHP guys too, so it might be beneficial as I can use them as a resource. Then again, node.js may be the next big thing so I could get ahead of the curve...

tgrass 15y ago ↗

I never programmed a thing before last year and picked up PHP in just a couple months. The W3schools tutorial is easy: http://www.w3schools.com/php/php_intro.asp and the manual is easily understood with examples. http://php.net/manual/en/index.php

Python would allow you to code beyond the web though...

JonoW 15y ago ↗

Node.js might not be a bad option seeing as you already know JavaScript, so could save you time learning new syntax. The other options are more mature though.