Which is the best programming language out there? Is there scope in php or does php language has better career scope? Which language should i use for my applications? Is php safe and secure?  As a technology and career consultant , i come across above questions almost everyday. With this post, i am just trying to put my views which might help people in their decision making.

Best Programming language?

Asking about best programming language is rather relative. No language is best and no language is worst. Its only depends on the perspective we use the language. PHP has been used to make small websites as well as huge websites also like facebook,yahoo, digg. It depends on us as to how we use that language. I personally like PHP above other languages because of ease of use, easy deployment and it provides huge expandability options along with cost savings. Since PHP is so powerful and popular, there is huge career scope in PHP language. Scope can just be realized with the fact that more than 75% of the websites on Internet is made in PHP. However, i do feel that when people ask me about scope they rather mean the earning capacity associated with that particular language. And, let me be frank guys, there is huge money out there provided you are skillful.

Which language should i use for my applications and Is PHP secure?

You can use any programming languages. But, Obviously, my choice would be to go with PHP. Huge applications like facebook.com, digg.com, yahoo etc are developed in PHP. There are  many reasons to choose PHP over other languages. Cost savings, Easy deployment, Huge support, reliability are just few advantages of PHP. Many larger companies have used PHP and also enhanced PHP in many ways. Companies like facebook and Yahoo have released so much resources for the php open source community, that you can use those knowledge to build a useful and scalable applications at very affordable cost.

There are many people, companies and developers who will discourage you to use PHP, but that should not bother you as they are all literally wrong. I share some common statments which you might have heard somewhere, or you will hear it somewhere.

1. PHP is Not Fast: Man, if programming is done correctly php can execute faster than other programming languages. There are many libraries which actually does make your applications and codes run faster. Hip-hop for php will compile php into highly optimized c++ and provides huge performance gains. Of-course, you should know how to use it.
2. PHP is not secure: Now this again is foolish statement. Security basically depends on the knowledge of person who is using the language. If the person is knowledgeable he can write codes which is quite tough to hack or crack. What is the use of make a concrete house, when you forgot to lock it. That being said, there is no application which is 100% secure. Security is just a mind game.
3. PHP is for small applications: Who are you fooling man? Some of the world biggest applications work on php. Say for example facebook, yahoo, google, wordpress, wiki’s . May be you need some exposure.
4. PHP has no scope:  Ohh.. Really.  More than 75% of the web is powered by PHP. If PHP doesn’t have scope what else have?
5. Low salary with PHP: Now again, salary is not something which depends on language. It depends on your knowledge and your skills. Salary depends on the value which you provide to the market place. People  have been earning as high as $200,000 annually with php as a experienced developer.
6. PHP cannot handle Loads: Thanks you pointed this out.  Do you think, facebook, yahoo, wordpress, wikipedia doesn’t get any traffic. How come and why come most of the top 100 websites of the world are powered by php?

Thant being said, i do feel that there is lack of awareness among developers for this language.  I haven’t seen PHP as a part of any approved course ware (India), i have never seen any company promoting PHP and this is one of the most important reasons that people fail to understand the importance of PHP. Also, since php is fairly easy to understand people just thing that they have become expert in php and start expecting huge benefits for them. PHP is quite vast and people are not aware about this. Just writing  a simple and function, isn’t going to give to any considerable competitive edge. For php lovers, i would love to share a link with you. Here it is. Please do feel to comment back on this article.