If you want to be a developer, you should aim to learn one new programming language a year, at least to the point where you can understand the strengths and wea

If you want to be a developer, you should aim to learn one new programming language a year, at least to the point where you can understand the strengths and weaknesses of the language. High-level languages like Ruby, PHP and Python are all good. At some point dive into functional, and at another point go a bit lower: C, perhaps. However if all you want to do is build this one product, then you need to evaluate which framework is easiest to get started in. So, choose a feature and build it in a few different frameworks and decide which one clicked for you. My recommendation is to try Rails, Django and CakePHP. If you're feeling brave, Meteor (in Javascript) is worth a look. Figure out what worked for you, and what didn't and make the decision from there. You might like Ruby but hate Rails: try Sinatra. You might love Javascript but hate the conceptual building blocks of Meteor: try Node.js. And so on. There is a lot of personal preference going on here, and I presume this is for now a side project so your focus should be on having fun. I think if you can get your head around it, Rails will be the one that gets you the fastest from "I have this idea" to being able to use it.