"Then the new programmer asks what language they should use for web programming. At this point, everyone looks at the floor, scratches the back of their neck, c

"Then the new programmer asks what language they should use for web programming. At this point, everyone looks at the floor, scratches the back of their neck, clears their throat a bit, and says that, well, you should probably use PHP because that's what everyone else is using." wow! This is some seriously fucked up advice. if someone were to ask me what language he should learn first, the answer is Python. When "Then the new programmer asks what language they should use for web programming" the answer is still Python - use Django with its awesome documentation and uber friendly community- (and PostGres as a database). This steers them clear of two terrible (but popular) pieces of software, PHP and MySQL.