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.
PHP can do it well. Python also can do it using web frameworks like Django or turbogears.
That being said, language is not an issue as long as it has web capabilities which your post seems to dictate
Language best for a Photo-sharing site: PHP, Python, Ruby or something else?