It has been a couple of years since I moved (from in-house hosting) my Java based web applications to using an outside company.
When I was hosting my little apps from my Windows 2000 server (using Caucho Resin,) on a DSL connection, I never had a problem … probably because it was so small.
Since growing and moving to Tomcat on Linux, I’ve found that Java is not the most stable thing … it is not uncommon for Tomcat to lock up.
Contrast this to my PHP based applications (WordPress for example) and I have yet to experience a problem.
THE JAVA FACADE
The Java community loves design patterns (they need them with that overly engineered Frankenstein of a language …) so I’m sure they’ll understand this -> Java is heavy, whenever you start a Java process it like putting on 50 pounds - it slows you down.
The Java facade is the claim that Java is a light nimble thing … the JVM that is. It is not anymore. It once was say back in 1997.
I always wondered why Sun (a billion dollar company) could not get Java Applets to work whereas the relatively tiny company Macromedia, could with the Flash player?
… I’m ranting, so sorry.
CPANEL IS SCARED OF JAVA
Funny, when you activate Tomcat to work with a domain on CPANEL, it gives you a warning about how much juice Java swallows up … and warns against enabling too many Java based websites. It doesn’t say jack about PHP …
JAVA’S FUTURE IS IN LEGACY
It seems a contradiction, but I think that’s where it’s at. Java will become (strictly) a technology of the Enterprise (and legacy integration) while nimble languages like PHP and Ruby will be used to create the new innovative software.
Why?
PHP and Ruby programmers can (and do) code circles around Java developers. You can’t blame the Java developers: the Titanic couldn’t turn on a dime either!
Zing!
“I always wondered why Sun (a billion dollar company) could not get Java Applets to work whereas the relatively tiny company Macromedia, could with the Flash player?”
Why A big country like America could not invade and capture Viet Nam as long as China had done in the past?
and
tell me Why many PhD of Computer Science cannot cook as well as many ordinary women do ??? Why ? Because they are not supposed and not intend to do that.
Java was designed mainly for Enterprise Apps especially Server-side Apps.
Now It s moving to Desktop Apps, though.
Java was designed for small devices initially.
Then it became popular because of applets. Later it found its’ space on the server where it works well.
Ciao,
Stefan
I agree that the others have some advantages with less complexity, but with back-end stuff Java is way better than PHP. PHP becomes a huge mess with large projects where you actually have to do a lot of work behind the scenes. Plus, Java has JSPs which can be compared to PHP (code in page). I have not used Ruby yet.
Java runs fast for me. Maybe your host is teh suck because there aren’t many (any?) good Java hosts that I know of. You said it ran fine on your own computer. That is the case with me as well. I plan to start hosting my Java utilizing website myself soon.
Since PHP 5, you now have a choice of MVC based PHP frameworks that mirror many different web frameworks that you find in Java and Ruby.
PHP has a history of model 1 design, but that is quickly falling out of favor.
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We have just completed a couple of MVC based web apps built with PHP and the Zend framework. We actually completed the Web 2.0 application for one job and then easily ported it to another with a minimal amount of work.
From my experience, PHP runs very fast, has a small footprint and is very reliable. Java is a pig - I run a dedicated server (Linux) and the JVM sucks a lot of juice.
… You have to consider that i was a J2EE guy for several years .. I speak from experience.
Simply stated: for web application development, PHP and Ruby will get the job done in a fraction of the time.
Stefan
I always wondered why Sun (a billion dollar company) could not get Java Applets to work whereas the relatively tiny company Macromedia, could with the Flash player?
… because Microsoft (a multi-billion dollar company) fought it tooth and nail using underhanded techniques… as usual for Microsoft. Flash was a little showy plug-in and wasn’t important for Microsoft to worry about. With pushes to move the application inside the browser and Microsoft’s release of Silverlight, don’t be too surprised if Flash starts having mysterious ‘problems’ and ‘bugs’ when running on a Microsoft OS and specifically Internet Explorer.
I’m a Java Developer and my previous job was as a PHP Developer. Comparing Java and PHP is like Comparing PHP and HTML. PHP is a great way for me to get something done very fast, but I must echo the thoughts of another - on a large application where there is a lot of back-end processing, Java is a better language. So, I would agree with using Java on an Enterprise size application or an application that you want to evlove. But if you just want to throw something out there and get it up and running, use PHP. Either way, if you’re trying to do a large application, it will take just as much time in PHP. Really, we should all know that the work is not in coding the Java or PHP, its really in all the requirements gathering, customer relations, QA, CM…