Things to Remember and Consider Before Choosing a Programming Language

Java, .NET, PHP, Python, Ruby on Rails….which is the best programming language of all? While this decision may be crucial for a web developer, the average business owner is rarely bothered about these choices. For him, any language that’s easy and affordable to use would suffice. Choosing the right programming language is important, but not complicated. Here’s a list of considerations that a business owner ought to consider before choosing a programming language.

The technology that is currently used:

If your company exclusively uses Microsoft servers and plans to keep it that way, it makes sense to choose .NET with C# and VB.NET. Using vendor software across all or most of your systems makes software integration much easier and also ensure that your staff can specialize and have recieve support. There are some who are apprehensive about being tied to a single vendor for all their needs. But there are others who see this as a positive relationship and prefer to take advantage of the vendor loyalty.

If your company is more diverse or chooses to keep flexibility in vendor choice, .NET should be avoided. Although it can be used outside of the Windows environment, it is known to be quirky and lacks good support and its use on non-Windows machines is not advised. Java, PHP, Python and Ruby on Rails work well on all the major platforms and are better suited to be used on Linux, Mac and UNIX and avoid vendor lock in.

Skill sets currently used:

As a business owner/manager it makes sense to first consult the people who will be working on the web application development. But make sure that they have valid reasons for their choice and that they are in line with your business needs. The chosen technology should address current and future needs of functionality, cost and growth.

When in its highest use, how many will be using the application:

Business owners with an established presence will find it comparatively easier to attract customers, but if they are new, this seems unlikely. Making an honest and realistic prediction of your customer base is important to choose the right application.

You also ought to project the growth of users. You can then choose a program, depending on its scalability. Niche businesses who don’t expect to serve a large clientele can choose from a simple program. But if you expect the web application development to support a large number of concurrent users, it makes sense to choose a program that is scalable.

Large scale applications often use enterprise level use Java development for heavily used systems. .NET can also scale, but does incur additional costs which can become significant.

Budget:

If monetary restrictions are of great concern, languages like Python, PHP and Ruby on Rails are the best option. But if the business demands scalability and you are willing to invest a little more, JAVA and .NET are a good choice.

Sophistication:

Besides these, the complexity that is required in the backend is also of importance. If your database application development requires complex processing and logic, Java and .NET are superior to PHP, Python and Ruby.

Your Users:

With web application development, you have a choice of almost any language but it will likely include JavaScript as one of the languages. For Android development, you have one choice: Java. For the iPhone or iPad, you must use Objective C. Note however, that the Android, iPhone and iPad platforms do utilize the web so you can avoid the effort and cost of the platform specific language by sticking to web application development only.