Another comparison of PHP, ASP.NET and Java

I read A brief reflection on platforms for web application development (PHP, Java, ASP.NET) on Vlasta Vávra’s blog with interest. Many similar articles have one serious flaw: their authors have practical experience with at most one of these technologies and may only have read about the others. This piece, by contrast, gives a view from someone who used all three in real projects.

I regard the Ruby on Rails craze and all its fanatical devotees with some disdain. I mention Rails in connection with the article because the three platforms it discusses are at quite different points in their respective cycles. Gartner’s analysts supposedly devised the hype cycle to describe the stages a technology passes through (source: the java.cz mailing list):

• Technology trigger
• Peak of inflated expectations
• Trough of disillusionment
• Slope of enlightenment
• Plateau of productivity

Comparing PHP, ASP.NET and Java makes sense because all three are roughly between the slope of enlightenment and the plateau of productivity, whereas Rails is at the peak of inflated expectations.