Cortlandt wrote:
> If one is starting out today to learn web and e-commerce programming
> where does one start?  Given a blank slate, what language or languages
> does it make the most sense to learn first?  Obviously, first some
> HTML.  I propose that Java has become or most likely will become a
> very good second.

I replied:
> In general, I would still go with Perl as the second
> language (after HTML), and Java (for Java Server Pages)
> as the third.

then Cortlandt:
> OK, I hear the opinion but why?   What is the reasoning behind it?

Several reasons, all IMHO, of course. :)

1. Client-side programming is out.  Applets are a pain.  As a client,
   I'm not going to wait for the thing to download, despite the
   relative proliferation of broadband these days.  And I am not
   too keen on leaving Java enabled in my browser.  (Then again,
   even with broadband connections, I run with image auto-load,
   Java, and JavaScript all disabled.)

   This means that Java, if used, would be on the server side.

2. CGIs are easy.  Not the fastest, most scalable technology, but easy.
   Surely the CGIs would not be written in Java.

3. There may still be a back-end server process.  Java is a candidate here,
   but development is much quicker in scripting languages such as Perl, the
   sheer volume of code is less, and Perl runs reasonably quickly.

4. Perl is a more stable language than Java, having been refined over a
   longer period of time (approaching 10 years in the field, versus 5 for
   Java).

For more on CGI programming, and coincidentally an intro to Perl, see

   http://www.cgi101.com/

For an "empirical comparison" of scripting languages (Perl, Python, Tcl,
Rexx), C/C++, and Java -- not of the language features, but how the
resulting programs compare in development and in execution -- see

   http://wwwipd.ira.uka.de/~prechelt/Biblio/jccpprtTR.pdf

--Glenn