[ale] J2EE vs PHP

[Fletch]

You might want to check out this paper.  I've quoted the conclusion
paragraph below.  And I trust there's no confusion about what I'd
sugguest instead of either of your sugguestions. :) (mod_perl
underneath either HTML::Mason or Template Toolkit, of course)


Experiences of Using PHP in Large Websites
http://www.ukuug.org/events/linux2002/papers/html/php/


7. Conclusions

PHP is a convenient language for rapidly prototyping simple dynamic
websites. We bsites thus built can in many cases be deployed
indefinitely, without spending t ime and money on refactoring code in
a different language. PHP's simplicity makes it a good language for
inexperienced programmers, such as those moving from a pure
page-design role to a site development one.

For more experienced developers, though, the language's simplicity
rapidly turns into complexity, slowing down the development
process. These developers are the ones who have the skills needed to
build large and/or complex websites; using PHP for such sites
therefore tends to be a net loss. This tendency is reinforced by PHP's
lack of the linguistic features needed to promote working on large
soft ware projects. If your project is at all large or complex, it may
be better to l ook elsewhere when choosing an implementation language.

In cases where PHP has been determined to be inappropriate, what
language should be used? There is considerable choice here; few
languages are as bad as PHP for doing serious development work. The
author and his colleagues have had good results with Perl, and
believe that languages such as C++, Java, and Python should serve
equally well.