It's not a matter of which language is better for the job. The point I'm trying to make is that if a given application works well, then it doesn't matter what language it's written in. For example, do you know what kind of metal was used to build the engine in your car? What about the kind of cloth in the seats? How about the materials in the roads you drive on? What about the techniques used in how the car or the road was made?
No. All you care about is that the car works as you expect and that the road works as you expect.
The same goes for the applications you use. Does it really matter what language your browser was written in? What about the language your OS was written in? What about the language the webapps you use on a daily basis are written in? Does the fact that Amazon.com is written in perl or python or php make any difference to whether or not you can use it to buy a book? What about the ability of Paypal to pay something or Ebay to run an auction?
In other words, just because something is written in Perl doesn't make it better or PHP make it worse. Instead, examine the capabilities of the application. WebAPP may be a better written application than Drupal. But, every application that is backed by a database is bound by the capabilities of the DBA, not by the language of the application.
My criteria for good software:
- Does it work?
- Can someone else come in, make a change, and be reasonably certain no bugs were introduced?
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