PHP is also good, but if you want to do some heavy integration with service API I stand by my Javascript suggestion. It's not pedagogical, but then neither is P

PHP is also good, but if you want to do some heavy integration with service API I stand by my Javascript suggestion. It's not pedagogical, but then neither is PHP. If you are a little more serious in your desire to learn programming, than you can learn Java. That way, you can go the GWT route when you need Javascript functionality.