LAMP vs Compiled Binary [closed]

Question

I really would appreciate some concise advice.

I am about to embark on a project where we will be maintaining a lot of property data.

We intend to build the application with a RESTful interface so that various clients can connect. ie web app, iphone app, 3rd party api etc.

We really want the app/api to be fast, responsive, solid.

However, realistically we only have a certain amount of in-house skill-set and want to make sure our thought process is heading in the right direction.

Our core knowledge is PHP so our initial idea is a LAMP stack (maybe replacing mysql with Postgres) with Memcached. We are likely to use Laravel framework too.

However, we are toying with the idea of writing the software in RealBasic (similar to VB but proper OOP) and create bytecode. This would include the http server too - all be it simple compared to apache.

Is the latter overkill? Are we making it harder in the long run as our own http server will probably never compare in speed to apache.

I would really appreciate some thoughts.

Answer 1

The only way you would want to use a REALbasic HTTP server is as an app server sitting behind Apache -- it would be crazy folly to run a public-facing web site on some slapped-together HTTP server written in any language -- so you'll have Apache (or Nginx) in the mix regardless.

REALbasic can work quite well in that role. It compiles to machine language, not bytecode, and your HTTP server would be built on its asynchronous single-threaded server socket framework, so performance is generally excellent.

That said, I doubt it would perform any better than PHP backed up by caching (Memcached, etc.), and PHP is a much, much, much more mature technology for web development than REALbasic, with none of the obstacles or limitations you will likely encounter if you attempt a REALbasic-based solution.

I'd say PHP is the safer and better choice for you, in this case.

(Caveat: I wrote this answer while taking a break from writing a web app based on a REALbasic HTTP server, development of which has been nothing but sheer pleasure -- REALbasic is a lovely language.)