More about the new server.

I have been programming since I was a teenager. I started on a Commodore 128. I've written code in lots of languages. Until a couple years ago, I would have told you my favorite programming language was C. My next favorite was assembly. But then I got a little tired of programming a few years back - about the time everyone else was moving to either Java or .NET. I never really cared for either of them. Both strike me as over engineered.

Now, before you take up arms to fight about the best OS and the best programming language, let me suggest this isn't a topic we need to fight about. It has been my observation that different technologist will gravitate toward a platform that works best for them. While I strongly prefer Linux as an OS, I really do not care one iota what OS you use. Same goes for programming languages. My advice, if you were asking, is use what you know or like.

As I was saying, I got kinda burned out on programming for a while. That's what happens when you aren't using a platform that works that way you think. I switched to Linux and that helped a LOT. Then a couple years ago, I was doing some 3D graphics with Blender3D and needed to automate some stuff - so I learned a little Python.

All the sudden, programming was fun again.

So, the new server? Hardware isn't too fancy - as a matter of fact, this server isn't really a server at all - it is a virtual machine. The software is much more interesting. Ubuntu (the best OS around IMO), Apache, MySQL, mod_python and Django form the underlying platform. This web application is written in Python using the Django framework. If you code in Python, and you haven't taken a look at Django, I highly recommend it. Their web site is here:
http://www.djangoproject.org

Python, I think, is best described as therapy for Java coders, but it is good for .NETers too. There's even a .NET version - called IronPython.