Over the last 4 weeks, I have finally decided to learn php and mysql and written a 2000-line web system with it. About 50 files, 40 lines each. php has a few aspects that seem great: (1) it comes already installed--zero effort on ubuntu; (2) embedding code in HTML is easy; (3) the $_SESSION management is great, and I like the "global" keyword; (4) php has a wealth of built-in functions and google is good about finding the right docs, with mysqli being particularly convenient; (5) php has one standard, not different ones.

BUT php as a language is an inconsistent and complete mess. worse, what it was good for (which is quick-and-dirty embedded web pages) has been transmutated beyond recognition into a wannabe object-oriented system. it's also real strange. for example, classes allow declaration of variables, but this is not possible outside. huh? oh, functions just got it too in php7, but the global namespace still does not. what gives?? I wish php7 had focused on cleaning up the basics, such as variable declarations and a decent type system.

of course, complexity has also happened to a lot of other web frameworks. the web is easy for users and hard for programmers. yes, I understand that for large projects, MVC and injections are a good thing. but there are many small web projects maintained by part-timers, where the learning curve and complexities of web frameworks are better avoided.

so now I am wondering about whether there exists a non-mess alternative to quick-and-dirty php (not to the full-blown drupal-joomla-mvc-etc web framework alternative). perl5 (and perl6) seem like much cleaner languages. my project is even small enough that I could recode it in a day or two. BUT, if I do this, I want an embedded language with a future. are there still any good and active embedded-webpage perl communities? Mason's last update, accdg to wikipedia, was 4 years ago. embperl does not even have a wikipedia page. are they still active? is there one "quick-and-dirty" easy-ubuntu-install perl-based embedded language alternative to php, with an active development and future path to perl6, that is worth switching to and which is/has become the standard for this purpose?

opinions and advice appreciated.

/iaw