Ask HN: How do you decide for a backend language?
For a server-side language:<p>First, I decided to use Windows for my operating system.  Why?  Because when I made the decision, my computing experience had been on IBM mainframes, super-mini computers, PCs, and OS&#x2F;2 with no Unix or Linux experience.<p>Second, on Windows I wanted a language that was a main Microsoft language with their best integration with .NET, ADO.NET for access to SQL Server, ASP.NET for access to the Microsoft IIS (their Web server software, <i>Internet Information Server</i>), etc.  I wanted Microsoft&#x27;s best documentation.<p>For performance, I wanted a compiled language.<p>And I wanted a language with syntax and semantics that were <i>traditional</i> and easy to read, write, teach, and learn.  I did want to avoid the deliberately <i>idiosyncratic</i> syntax of C also borrowed by C++ and C#.<p>I have no interest in <i>functional programming</i>.<p>So, I settled on the .NET version of Visual Basic .NET.<p>For the language, I&#x27;m just thrilled with it.  For my startup, for the on-line production code, I&#x27;ve typed in 80,000 lines of text with about 20,000 statements in Visual Basic .NET.<p>I find the language syntax and semantics easy to work with.  The compiler is nicely fast.  I am not sure I have yet found a bug.  How  the language works with IIS for developing Web sites is just terrific and, apparently, not commonly, clearly explained.<p>Oh, and I use no IDE (<i>integrated development environment</i>, e.g., Visual Studio) and, instead, just type into my favorite text editor and use some command line scripts.<p>My main <i>beefs</i> with Microsoft are (1) I wish the quality of the technical writing in their documentation was much better and (2) I wish Windows was much less vulnerable to computer <i>malware</i>.<p>But, for the question here, for a language, for me and my startup, it&#x27;s Visual Basic .NET.  I&#x27;m thrilled with it.<p>For client side code:<p>I use just some simple, old version of HTML with a little, simple CSS.  For my Web pages, so far I have yet to write even a single line of JavaScript although Microsoft&#x27;s ASP.NET writes a little for me.  From what I&#x27;ve seen of more in client side programming in Web pages, I want as little as possible.