PHP or Rails?

[sashas]

I'm new to web development/programming and was thinking of taking up a quick crash course on a programming language.

Which one should I go for? PHP or Ruby on Rails?

PHP is definitely one of the most popular languages on the internet, but of late, I've been seeing a lot of great apps built on Rails.

 

[mhdoc]

Have you looked at 37Signals.com and read their book on application development with Rails? That might help you decide.

 

[sashas]

I checked out that site...the only link I could find was to the official Rails website. Is there a separate book link on 37Signals.com?

These days, more and more apps I see are built on Rails

 

[mhdoc]

Getting Real: The Book by 37signals

Keep in mind that Ruby is a programming language and Rails is an application development framework. If the framework is a good fit with your intended application life is good. If not, it's a problem.

 

[projectx]

I'd suggest PHP to get started in web dev as there are more resources available to help beginners.

 

[ncwdavid]

I would have to say PHP too. It's a very easy language to learn and if you ever need help it is easy to find it for free online.

 

[Flexial]

Hi,

I think also that you should start with PHP because its free by all way.

If you have any problem than there are lots of sites for free to solve your problem.

Thanks

 

[sashas]

Thanks guys. I am learning PHP right now. From what I've read, Rails might be the new blue eyed boy, but PHP is rock solid and evergreen.

 

[mhdoc]

I don't disagree with your choice, but would like to point out that PHP and Ruby are languages. Rails is a framework, which is not the same thing My son, for example, finds Ruby has some interesting features, but he wants nothing to do with the rails framework.

 

[bocanames]

I'm a developer who develops in both! I maintain a lot of legacy sites built in PHP, also there are apps I commonly use like WordPress that are PHP. It's _very_ accessible for beginners, and the documentation at php.net is fabulous. If you have zero programming background this is a very reasonable choice.

Ruby is a more difficult language to learn if you're starting from zero. And I want to point out there are other ruby frameworks to use besides Rails (minimalist framework Sinatra is really great) But rails is a good choice for beginners because they've made so many decisions for you, based on common best practices. Things that take a long time to build in PHP are done in seconds or minutes in rails, so productivity is high.

Finally it should be noted that there are frameworks for PHP, although they don't seem to be popular, and I can't comment on them because I haven't tried them. CakePHP is the one I usually hear about. Also if you took a Python class in college somewhere, then go for Django, their popular framework.

have fun!

 

[Finnerup]

This might be a quite "right out of the book question", but do any of you know a "complete" online PHP tutorial, thats easy to use? i had to skip between a lot of websites to lern it. Would like to know if there was an easier way.

-Finnerup

By the way Sashas, great choise with the PHP!

 

[Bestone]

I'd suggest PHP for the beginner in web development as there are more resources available to help beginners.It is easy to use and you can get online help also in this regard.

 

[justin009]

Yeah.. Even I suggest PHP in ur web designing part. Its the best for a beginner. Moreover, very user friendly.

 

[big_kev_99]

I'd suggest php.it is quite easy to learn.you can try w3schools.com for help.they make it quite easy to learn.