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NOTE: This article is part of a series titled: PBBG Development For Beginners.
If I intend to create my own PBBG, then I'm obviously going to need to understand more than some basic HTML and CSS. I need dynamic pages and that calls for scripting. Popular choices include Java (not be confused with JavaScript), Flash, and PHP. Another option that I spent some time considering was Ruby, more commonly known as Ruby on Rails or RoR. Since a PBBG will be a long term project for me, and since I'm going to have a hard enough time learning one language, It's better if I focus on just one script. After comparing the scripts mentioned above I decided that PHP is probably my best bet for now. This is how I arrived at this conclusion.
Flash
Flash looks great and who doesn't want to have an animated PBBG? The problem for me is that Flash just seems to daunting at the moment. I did learn a couple of things though in the process of considering Flash. Flash may take up alot of initial bandwidth on load up but thereafter can actually consume less bandwidth during game play speeding up the game for everyone. Large realms consisting of many chunks that each need to be loaded independently can greatly slow down game play. Flash, though common to most, is still not universally compatible meaning that a fair number of potential members could not enjoy the game.
Java
Java seems a logical substitute for Flash but as I have been an avid PBBG fan for quite some time now, I've come to compare the performance of Java based PBBG's with Flash based PBBG's and have found Java to be significantly slower. Plus Java seems a bit overwhelming for a complete newb such as myself.
Ruby
Ruby was and still is very tempting. My primary reason for opting out of Ruby at this time is because there seems to be much more involved with getting setup to use Ruby than with other web scripts. Actually, as a friend mentioned to me via e-mail, Ruby is not just a web script but more like a traditional script that can also be used within a web interface. Also, and according to the Ruby Developers, Ruby is admittedly slower than some other scripts such as PHP. I should however point out that RoR includes ready made scripts that can be plugged into an existing project and has many great features that I just can't cover here. If you are considering learning a script, Ruby may be the one for you and even as I type this now, I know that if I do well with PHP that I will probably cross train with Ruby too.
PHP
At first I wasn't too excited about using PHP. It seemed too conventional. But after having realized how much free support is available, and how easy it is to get started with PHP, it seemed the best logical first script for a beginner. I'm also happy to report that PHP is fast, which is one reason why it has become so popular. I may not be able to create an animated game as I could with Flash, but on the other hand, it would probably take me much longer using Flash anyway. In considering PHP, I've learned that the syntax is very similar to C and other programming languages so perhaps I can use it as a stepping stone should I decide to explore further.
So, my planned PBBG will need support in the form of PHP, HTML, CSS, and AJAX. My interest in AJAX is in it's ability to retrieve data from the server asynchronously in the background without interfering with the display and behavior of the existing page. I see AJAX as a Flash substitute, not in the form of animation, but in the same way Flash can call to a database and change the display without a page reload, this translates to a faster game experience.
It was fairly easy for me to come up with a choice in supporting languages, that speaks volumes to me in terms of how little I know, I think that if I knew more, then I would have spent more time in the selection process.
Article written by: 
Whane The Whip
