Java and JVM as reliable platform +1 just go whatever language you want Scala, Haskell, Ruby... here language doesn't matter. If you want to create custom web based application (not RIA one ofc) go django or rails, now it's more matter of taste both choices will give you a lot benefits, and ofc you can run it ontop of JVM. But if you considering building anything today on PHP (when you have sooooooooo fucking many better platforms) you are incompetent and plain stupid, because it will be a big technical debpt for the whole project.