"Now I understand different project needs translates to different languages" This is much less true than you'd think when you're talking about languages of the

"Now I understand different project needs translates to different languages" This is much less true than you'd think when you're talking about languages of the same class, like Ruby and PHP. (Sorry, Ruby; I didn't mean it that way.) And when your goals are vague ("social networking site.") The ease of setting up PHP will retard your progress towards understanding the web stack in greater depth, Which is something you'll need to do if you want to become a good web developer. Setting up Python or Ruby with Apache isn't as difficult as you would think it is, given how often the ease of setting up PHP is cited as a reason to use it. You'll learn better habits and practices from the Ruby or Python communities than the PHP community.