Do Not Go Gently Over to The Server-Side...

Do not go gently over to the server-side. Many important and intense activities of data processing occur on the server side. Why, then, should an information technology (IT) professional use a certain server-side language just because his boss recommends one? His boss may have good reasons for choosing a certain language, but the boss may be unaware of other technologies out there. Or perhaps, the boss may be hiding other options from the IT guy to prevent him from gaining company recognition and reputation. Whatever the case may be, you need to be aware of your options when you "go over to the server-side."

What do I mean when I say this? Well, it's perfectly OK to completely detach oneself from all emotions and to use cold, hard, reasoning and fact-based analysis when dealing with the server-side (and the client-side for that matter). However, it has become apparent in the contemporary IT realm that people, eggheads in particular, are simply too attached to their technologies of choice. Certain dynamics of love and hate are at play. For example, some of them love Microsoft. Others loathe anything Microsoft. Some love iMacs, while others play hockey with their miniscule mice. Some love ColdFusion, while others are into JavaServer Pages (JSP) or Active Server Pages (ASP). Many others are cult-classics like the good, old Practical Extraction and Report Language (PERL) or becoming one, like the relatively new PHP4 (PHP HyperText Preprocessor). Yes, this is a somewhat daunting list (and I'm sorry if I left anyone out…), but it is also a manageable one. These languages and/or application server-side scripting languages are, principally tools, which work to solve business problems. On the surface, the decision appears to be a simple matter of personal preference. However, as confusing as it can be to differentiate them, there's a definitive need to delve deeper into these technologies.

Luckily there's a specific set of guidelines that an IT professional can apply to any new server-side consideration:

1. Define the business problem;
2. Analyze and weigh the pros and cons of the server-side consideration to your business problem;
3. Implement the technology of choice in order to solve your business problem.

While certainly not difficult, these three steps will serve you and your company well. Hopefully, they'll prove rewarding in the technological long run also (if, indeed, that is possible). It's no secret that Web developers, upon discovering some new technology, seem to have a propensity to become technologically biased, dismissive not only toward other development technologies, but also toward the developers who use them. Naturally, such attitudes, while both counterproductive and narrow-minded, mostly serve to muddy the waters around a more important issue, namely, the application of these technologies. It is, after all, natural to accept one and only one environment once one becomes accustomed to it (be that a city, a place of business, or a Web development IDE). Be that as it may, application of the available environments ought to be the main concern of Web developers.