Java is a bit of a hybrid, classes are compiled to “byte code” but they still require the Java Virtual Machine to run…. much like the .NET framework. That is how they deliver platform independence.

Whether it is faster depends largely on who you talk to… Java developers probably think so

I have read about large sites that migrated off JSP / Java to PHP and reported performance improvements…

Java dev’s subsequently said this was nonsense and that the reason the sites were running slowly was the application server was a bad choice / poorly set up….

The advantages I saw were

1) I prefer the language to PHP
2) Writing in a compiler is easier in terms of de-bugging
3) Black box testing was a lot easier
4) No need for stupid encryption to distribute code… though string variables are still in literal form and you can get de-compilers to backward engineer……

Unfortunately (for me after using Java for some) PHP rules the web…

If so this is a great feature.

The problem is with PHP, is there are no good frameworks available, so I am working on my own. Its slow progress, but rewarding. Just done a bespoke eCommerce website in less than 200 lines with another couple of 100 being used in a shopping cart/checkout system I made a while back.

ASP is dead, forget it,

ASP.NET is used by many companies and is easy to use, but I have a few issues with it and dont like it…

JSP I have used a lot and prefer it to PHP, as you can encapsulate most of your code into compiled classes. I find it a lot easier to develop as you can test your classes one at a time in the compiler, de-bugging is a lot easier, but there are few open source applications, and, hosting is harder to find and more expensive.

Python is another interesting one, I have heard good things about ROR but never used it myself.