I plan to build a photo-sharing site like Flickr/Picasa for photographers, with features most suited for them. As you know, if that venture proves successful, many GB to TB of data transfers take place every day.
This question is not just about scalability of my application as it grows, but also performance. I would like to make an informed decision. I think I'd go with MySQL database, JavaScript/jQuery for client-side scripting, but what server-side language with it, is the question - - PHP, Python, Ruby or something else?
And there are definitely somethings to keep in mind when developing an application (i.e., scalable coding) that needs to scale over a period time. If any that you would like to suggest, what are they?
NOTE: I am specifying "Photo-sharing site" in order to give you an idea of my mission. Otherwise, this question wouldn't look as subjective. Kindly take it that way.
I've done Web applications in PHP, ColdFusion, Java, and Ruby, with various frameworks. I find Rails to be the most powerful Web framework I've ever used. Nothing can really equal it, because the power comes from the Ruby language, and no other language (except maybe Smalltalk) can really equal that. That said, as long as you use proper development practice, you should be able to get it done in almost any language.
However, you do not want to use MySQL as a database. PostgreSQL is far more powerful and scalable, and doesn't have MySQL's silly limitations and gotchas.
Language best for a Photo-sharing site: PHP, Python, Ruby or something else?