What is the Best Combination of Web Development Languages/Tools/Platforms?

I want to build a social network so obviously i'm going to need databases, user logins, communication tools etc. Since i'm starting from the bottom it's best to integrate the right languages in right away.





Should I use Java/PHP/MySQL? or try some of these other crazy things like AJAX?

What is the Best Combination of Web Development Languages/Tools/Platforms?
The two most popular platforms are PHP/MySQL or ASP.NET/SQL. There are pros and cons to each.





PHP and MySQL are free and the hosting for them is generally cheaper. However, in business terms, they are more expensive to manage because they require more hands-on work to maintain.





ASP.NET and SQL costs are upfront - you pay for the software licensing and more expensive hosting (servers generally need to run Windows - an additional license cost) but maintenance is typically cheaper - it takes fewer developers/DBAs to run a web application of a similar scale than an open source solution.





In the end, the costs usually average out. Some people will say one worked better for them and others will argue the other, because it is different for every situation. But over the spectrum of the entire industry, it roughly averages out. It's mainly a matter of preference, and which programming paradigm you like more - the OSS model or the Microsoft model.





AJAX doesn't really have anything to do with your development platform - it is more of a methodology than a technology.
Reply:Which langauge and Database to code in will always be a hot topic. Everybody has their favorites. I should point out a lot of pro websites are using Java right now, on Sun Servers. Web programming as all about java now.





However, PHP and MySQL is cheaper (It's all freeware, and works on Linux Servers) and will probably be more available to you. PHP/MySQL will certainly handle anything you need at your level.





AJAX isn't that crazy (I'm kindof sick of that term). It's actually just a very simple way of getting content from the server to the browser faster, and then using Javascript to display it. It has nothing directly to do with login sessions or member databases, which seems to be more important to you.
Reply:You'll have to think of this from two angles... client-side (the web browser) and server-side.





For the server-side, my vote is for Apache/PHP/MySQL, just because of the sheer amount of support. If I were to choose a language for it's elegance, it would be Python or Ruby on Rails.





I used to be in favor of Flash for highly-interactive dynamic web applications (with PHP on the server end of things) but since the Adobe take-over, I'm finding AJAX and Java more appealing (in that order).





And that last acronym is really overkill. It's just JavaScript tricks on the browser end and the use of XML to talk to a server-side technology of your choosing. Asynchronous JavaScript And XML. Okay, never mind. AJAX is easier to say :)