hmmmm.... i say pearl (and cgi) will stay forever. Considering that this board is made in pearl...
;D

I think the ones that are based on solid languages will prosper ... C++ isn't going anywhere anytime soon - and you can write scripts in C++ ...

asp, php, and coldfusion all seem to be hot right now
alpha's right though, perl is going down the drain

My favorite kind of web page is made with good 'ole MS Word! Thats real content!

LOL!! word!! wordpad is better!

Well, the reason why Perl is going to stay for a while is that most servers already come with it free (CGI). So that's a benefit. A lot of hosts come with it also (bin directory). Now, just because it's free, and it's been around for a while, doesn't mean it's the best. In my opinion, the code is sloppy, and I can't even imagine the maintenance on huge app, like amazon.com to be solely written in perl/c++. Don't get me wrong, it's still a good language, but for writing good scripts-it's still used that way... you can compare that too how assembly language is used... not all applications are written in assembly, but those that need that extra little functionality, use asm. <br /><br />I think the hype nowadays are between the BIG 4: ASP, PHP, ColdFusion, and JSP.

Through my journeys of the internet, i mainly see php and asp sites. I know a lot of the big internet companies (ie. buy.com) use asp. The most likely reason for this is that they could probably afford windows 2k adv serv, but smaller companies can't. I know google use over 10,000 mid-end systems running red hat linux. Multiply 10,000 by 400 bux, and you get the price it would cost for them to switchover to windows. Well... that's 4,000,000 (four-million) dollars!! wow! google only makes like what, 30 million a year. It costed them around 2000 dollars to license all of their 10,000 computers using red hat. A meager price compared to that of windows 2000 adv serv.

And about the big four... jsp is starting to disappear. Coldfusion seems to be getting old and this only leaves the big two.
Just like in the operating system war, it's php (linux) vs asp (windows). Who will win this? Will php with it's faster, cheaper, and more stable capabilities win. Or will asp, with their huge half a trillion dollar company backing them up win. Or we'll these two superpowers be fighting until the end of time? Only time can tell...

Hmm... the arguement could go both ways. Its really whatever floats your boat. If you wanted a simple program done that just makes a message box come up, a vb programmer would say vb is the best choice. A C++ programmer would say C is the best choice. A Delphi.... you see where I'm going with this...

Haha. "ColdFusion seems to be getting old"? Of course you're saying that after developing Coldfusion templates for a year, attending the last Macromedia DevCon, and reading every ColdFusion Developer's Journal every month right? Just because you don't see it, doesn't mean that things aren't happening; gears aren't moving. ColdFusion is starting to develope more and more exponentially, now that Neo is in the works.

The same statement goes for JSP. First of all, Java is BIG in the community, and one of the best ways to integrate Java along with web apps is through JSP pages and servlets. Java has been around for more than 10 years now, and research still continues. I doubt that anytime soon JSP will disappear. There are many sites that use JSP, like http://www.nintendo.com. Remember all web sites don't have to be limited to just one language, they can use many. JSP/ColdFusion, along with Perl and ASP, all working together.

I agree with Tekmaven. The decision depends on... first of all... budget. Then the time it will take to learn/setup... then the time to write/test/debug the application... then finally, it must be done in a way so it can be maintained easily and in an efficient manner. Now of course... all of this can also be biased.... who's making the decision. It's usually the boss (the one who'll shell out the money) and it's your job to smile and keep your mouth shut and learn the damn thing.