Hi All, Strange query is this I know...but I don't know where to start with regards to learning a good web development language with my current skills. PHP? Java? Silverlight? Ruby?? ASP.net MVC, Wordpress?? I want to create some really good looking but basic sites (like information sites or custom blogs for example) but just don't know what to learn? There is so much out there... A bit about my background: I have been a corporate IT developer for 2 years now mainly doing basic c#, sql, infopath and sharepoint stuff. Recently got into ASP.net and created a couple of sites for work and really enjoyed it so web development is where i want to be. I could continue with ASP.net but finding it pretty restrictive and starting to add Java to it now to get it to do what i want ...wondering whether to start messing with Silverlight (will my hosting company host anything in silverlight?) or move onto something more powerful such as Java, PHP etc Can anyone advise? Please help as i am very confused! Thanks
PHP and Java excel at being straight forward in their syntax. If you are freelancing and want to build small to midsize websites PHP is better for that than Java. That said, if you really want to experience some awesomeness learn Ruby and the Rails framework. It is harder to learn than PHP but Rails is a great framework, it's the framework everyone out there is trying to emulate. As you learn Rails you will also want to pick up Javascript (via JQuery) and HTML and CSS. You already know SQL. That combination will get you very far in web programming. Anyway, that's my two cents.