What's the best web programming language as of now? Take your choice... would that be PHP, ASP, Cold Fusion, CGI or Others (Please Specify).
In your tool box you don't have a single one size spanner: PHP good for the net, Java good for software, ERP, CRM, Portals etc. .Net...
Ruby should be on there also. To answer the question from a purely web publishing perspective then I'd say PHP.
Probably sleeping in the closet. While Java is great, it is excesively resource-consuming hence not all hosting services support it. Ruby on Rails will probably take the same path that Python and Coldfusion: poor development. Ajax is not properly a programming language but an implementation of javascript from the server-side instead than client-side. My vote is for PHP followed by pure ASP, bearing in mind that ASP.Net is another poorly developed solution.
In my opinion, any of the major languages will suffice (PHP, ASP (gasp), PERL, JSP, RUBY). I personally prefer writing strict OOP applications in PHP serverside, and javascript w/ AJAX on the client side.
If you are just starting out and looking to learn and to use cheap/personal hosting services then clearly PHP is the best "quick and dirty" tool to use. If you have some decent hosting and good background in formal programming, code-behind ASP.NET without a doubt is the way to go in my opinion. AJAX isn't really a web programming language as its all client side (and its not a language its just a "way of thinking" for javascript...) But you can use AJAX techniques with any language.
The best "web programming language as of now" is the one which allows you to complete the desired task. Each choice has certain strengths and weaknesses depending on the task and the operating system installed on the host machine. The best then is a matter of preference and/or knowledge and/or bias.
If you had to learn any of them, I would have to say PHP. Many scripts you will buy, and a lot of the open source one are php-based, so this will allow you to do modifications on a wide variety of scripts and sites. Yes, knowing javascript and JSP and PERL and ect. is fine and they're great at what they do, but PHP is hard to beat in term of available scripts online.
There is no best language. Saying there's a best language is like saying that books in English are better than books written in German or French. There are no bad languages, only bad writers (or bad programmers).
Right now for me Java is the best. Although I can see the good sides of Ruby/Python/PHP, but I prefer languages that have more strict syntax. Eg. when I say a method returns a String than I want it to return String not an array, and that's possible in those three languages.
Well, technically PHP and ASP are scripting languages, not programming languages. ColdFusion is a framework, not a language at all (unless you mean CFML which again is a scripting language). CGI is a standard, you can't program in CGI. You can make a CGI compliant program from vaious languages. That being said, ASP.Net (which is also a framework and not a language) is the best one out there in terms of function speed, and ability. However, it still requires that you be on a M$ server (I thought they were supposed to have this ported to Unix/Linux by now). It also can be very complicated. While it has certain abilities that would be hard (in some cases impossible) to replicate with other languages, most of those features are not something the vast majority of web programmers would use. It's great for web applications, overkill for a blog (unless that is what you already have and know). PHP and the old ASP are about the same, though PHP has probably surpassed it now. For most of the people here I would say PHP. It is fairly easy to use. There are a lot of tutorials out there (and free scripts). It is portable to most hosting companies.