best scripting language to learn?

Pedobear

Pedobear

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Sep 8, 2009
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Los Angeles
So I wanted to get some more/new tools under my belt, and was thinking of picking up php. Before I get started though, is there another language that would be more practical for affiliate marketing? I want to be able to build some custom scripts to automate ad creation, make more dynamic sites, and just generally not be held back by lack of scripting skills.

Yes I know there are programs and forums that can already do most anything I can think of, but I want to know what's going on "under the hood". Besides, learning is [usually] fun.

I know enough vba, html, and C to get by.

tldr - what's the best language to know?
 


If you are talking about web-based scripts, then php is probably your best choice.
If you need to automate tasks on your workstation, then check out python.
 
Lately I have been using LOLCODE to build all my sites


Code: 
HAI
CAN HAS STDIO?
PLZ OPEN FILE "LOLCATS.TXT"?
	AWSUM THX
		VISIBLE FILE
	O NOES
		INVISIBLE "ERROR!"
KTHXBYE
 
PHP is tits because it makes server side programming super easy, no need to do anything on most hosts to get your stuff running, just copy the files over. Any time you need long running tasks, I would say go with PHP.

Ruby is fun, but it doesn't have nearly as good of a core library as Python, and it sucks balls on Windows. If you're on Mac/Linux though, it's another option.

If Python/Ruby were easier to deploy on normal hosting, I would use only them. But deployment was the reason I stopped using Ruby on Rails, the apps were easy but the server management sucked all kinds of balls. Codeigniter however (for PHP) can just be dropped on a the shittiest of shared hosts and run perfectly fine. Can't beat that....
 
PHP. Look up Perl once you get comfortable with PHP.

Python is evil; whitespace should not be used to determine program flow!
 
To everyone saying PHP, they probably don't know why. PHP is good, Python is good.
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your first language will always be hard but ask yourself one question .. am i learning a language to get ahead on the net? if yes it has to be php or javascript (jquery!!!) - start with php it's easy to learn and (a lot of) fun to play with.

if you're a design wiz (html + css) learn jquery first then php after, it'll be easier.
 
I recommend going to read Kevin Yank's book. Actually though, you can go to SP and register to get the first four chapters. I think the first four chapters were the best, if you take some time and actually spend the time necessary to completely understand them, you're well on your way to learning PHP and MySQL.

The rest of it is really just a matter of getting your feet wet and trying to do something on your own. You'll probably have to ask many questions, most people do.
 
PHPGator said:
PHP is where its at, hence the name. ;)
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Could have guessed ;) thanks though! Based off everyone's recommendation I ended up getting this PHP book which apparently covers PHP 5 (not that I know what that means yet..). It's a thick book, but even if I don't reach an expert level I'm sure it will help.

If PHP is anything like my past experience, I'm hoping that it's 10% learning and 90% experimenting, so I can quickly put some of this into use. thanks to all again for all the input!
 
The best PHP book I've come across for this marketing joint is definitely this one here, "Webbots, Spiders, and Screen Scrapers". It's not complicated code at all, it's simple and real easy to learn, and once you get it you'll be making useful scripts in 5 to 10 minutes.

I know you just got a book, Pedo, but that's my recommendation for you.

Oh and for anybody who still hasn't decided, I just wanna add that coming from Visual Basic and C++, PHP is just like a dream come true. I seriously can't believe sometimes how painless it is to write scripts and how STURDY they are. I mean maybe to people who have worked with 349372 programming languages they would tell you it's not that awesome or whatever, but like I said, considering what I came from it feels like PHP was invented for internet marketing.
 
As far as scripting languages go. Perl > *

not sure why people are all over PHP here...if you're writing a web application, use PHP. If you're writing any other type of "script" (for automation, or whatever) use Perl.
 
1K_Affiliate_X said:
As far as scripting languages go. Perl > *

not sure why people are all over PHP here...if you're writing a web application, use PHP. If you're writing any other type of "script" (for automation, or whatever) use Perl.
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I was going to write the same thing (and implied it previously in this thread), but I was Googling for speed comparisons and I read that PHP is actually faster than Perl, at least in some circumstances. I wasn't able to find any recent benchmarks, but would be very interested to see some if someone else wants to do some more in-depth research.
 
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