Php or Java?

Newbie & Debugging Questions
#1

I’ve just started learning java in the hopes of (eventually) making a simple, text-based (mostly), browser-based multiplayer game. Something along the lines of Utopia ( http://games.swirve.com/utopia ) or Travian ( http://s3.travian.com ).

Now, before I dive heads-in with Java and devote a ton of time to it, I was just wondering if php would be a better way to accomplish what I’m after? I was told that it was easier but as I’ve never used it I obviously wouldn’t know.

Which would you guys recommend? Which would be easier? Which would provide better performance?

Thanks in advance for your replies, and sorry if this question has already been covered (I didn’t find it when searching the forums, so maybe not).

#2

First, lets note that you’re on a java forum so any answer you get is going to be utterly biased :slight_smile:

However, having used both of them:

PHP doesn’t make it easy to write good robust, maintainable software. As with any language its possible for a competent developer to use it in a careful manner. Java on the other hand gentley guides you towards writing good software.

Java Servlet support isn’t as easy as PHP to setup. PHP is tailored directly towards web page generation (from whatever source) and so is very good at it.

In my opinion, it depends on how complex you see your game getting. The more complex the problem/solution/game, the closer you reach towards enterprise tools, which pushes you close to Java.

Java and PHP are both easy enough to pick up and use. There is alot of support for both both commercial and on friendly forums like this one.

HTH,

Kev

#3

Thank you very much for your reply, it’s much appreciated.