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I'm building a website for my friend's startup. I'm currently building it on PHP, MySQL, Apache. Everything is going pretty smooth till now, but one of my friend recommends i move to a Java framework because that'd be better when the site becomes bigger. I don't have any Java Knowledge and I have adequate knowledge of PHP but I'm a fast learner

Should i continue with PHP (can PHP be used for big sites?) or should i move to a Java Framework? Any suggestions please.

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I'll answer this question with a question. Do you like Ford or Chevy? –  polyhedron Oct 27 '10 at 5:16
I don't know the difference between them but I'd say I prefer apple over windows. If that answers your question? –  Sussagittikasusa Oct 27 '10 at 5:18
I'm a Java developer, but I second the answer below by @Fosco. But, it also depends on what kind of "big site" you are building. –  tim_wonil Oct 27 '10 at 5:26
E-commerce, Networking, Lot of money transactions. –  Sussagittikasusa Oct 27 '10 at 5:29
Some advice: don't get ahead of yourself. With a startup the main thing is to get a presence out there first and then incremental updates from there. Plan to have a big website, but leave the problems of a big website until you are one. If you're lucky enough to grow and have those problems, you can sort them out then. –  David Oct 27 '10 at 5:48
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7 Answers

up vote 2 down vote accepted

I think regardless of whether you go with PHP or a Java solution you're going to have to learn a new set of frameworks/libraries. If you don't have experience building anything more than a toy website (including any you've done through education) there will be plenty to learn from both paths.

Research some frameworks for both PHP and Java and make up your own mind based on what you've read. If it's such a long project you'll have plenty of time to familiarise yourself with whichever option you choose.

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Just to throw another 2 cents in, I'd also recommend checking out a CMS framework like Drupal. Drupal has literally thousands stable plug-ins to do most of the stuff you'd want to achive: e-commerce, user accounts, authentication etc. It's code-base is really well thought out and if you know a bit of PHP you should find it fairly straightforward to jump in. –  Horatio Alderaan Oct 27 '10 at 5:58
But how will these frameworks affect my web site design? –  Sussagittikasusa Oct 27 '10 at 6:34
The idea behnd using existing frameworks is that almost everything you will need has been written by someone else already. Do not re-invent the wheel. So if you do some research you should be able to find a number of frameworks that support what you want to do. Your findings might help you decide which technology stack (Java, PHP, other) you use. There is - of course - a balancing act between changing what you want to do to fit the frameworks that exist, and what you are determined to do in your own way even if it means writing custom implementations. –  David Oct 28 '10 at 3:20
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PHP can be used for big sites. Take a look at Facebook. End of story...

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Can it handle e-commerce and concurrency issues? –  Sussagittikasusa Oct 27 '10 at 5:26
Did I mention Facebook?... Yes, it is very scalable. –  Fosco Oct 27 '10 at 5:29
Magento is a well built e-commerce system in PHP. –  AlexanderMP Oct 27 '10 at 5:30
@Suss Of course. Those are features you build, not in-grown functions of any given programming language. –  Greg Oct 27 '10 at 5:30
Yes can handle e-commerce and concurrency issues. It has it's own API for this purpose. –  user319198 Oct 27 '10 at 5:31
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When someone says something like that, you need to have them justify what they are saying. PHP is scalable and versatile. Java has it's strengths and weaknesses too, just like any other programming language.

Since you are a novice in PHP, you probably won't reuse much of the code that you are using to build the initial site. I know you plan to, but the likelyhood that you will is very slim. Go with what you know.

PHP has been used by a plethora of sites. Google, Yahoo, Facebook, etc, etc all use some php for all their sites.

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The thing is that i find PHP very easy so far, my friend says that database will have concurrency issues and stuff if i don't move to a framework. –  Sussagittikasusa Oct 27 '10 at 5:25
The database and language you use to build the site are unrelated. –  mellowsoon Oct 27 '10 at 5:29
@Suss - language/framework choices and database concurrency issues are (mostly) apples and oranges. Both PHP and Java can be used to create very scalable and parallel sites, and both can be used to build a buggy mess. –  Greg Oct 27 '10 at 5:32
Also, take a look at Zend. This is a PHP framework will help you in the long run on your "big site" –  polyhedron Oct 27 '10 at 5:42
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Everything for a website is possible with php. No need to worry. we can make heavy sites with php in a easier way then java framework. You can use php frameworks like zend framework, codeigniter. They are scalable and easy to learn have lot of Components (libraries). And provides client services to bigger sites like twitter,amazon,yahoo etc.


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At least 1/3 of the top 20 sites on the web are using PHP in one way or another. Languages used by the rest include Python and Ruby. I don't see that any of them are using Java.

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PHP is fine to use, ive made websites before using PHP...

Id suggest you stick with PHP but challenge yourself and expand your knowledge.

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Yes. Big sites can be build using PHP. Examples are Digg.com and Facebook (which compiles to c++, but indeed).

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