There are advs and disadvs for every language. But my choice of language is ColdFusion. Very simple to learn for programmers new to a project. One can use the OO standards or Modular standards, or a combination of both to help organize the code for scalability. My favorite features of it is that you can easily and I mean easily integrate Java Objects or C++ with it, it has an almost flat learning curve, and it takes fractions to code in cfml over some of the other server-side languages. Other cool features include Flash forms to have a more Rich Internet App feel. There are also tones of free API's, functions, modules,... out there to use. Our team uses Dreamweaver and CFEclipse to make life even more easier. And we also coding using the model-view-controller structure, and it works great with CF. Now, off course I'm biased towards CF, that's b/c I use it every day! But I'm still willing to mention the bad things about using it. It's not free :( there I said it. But if you're talking about large scale apps, the cost is relatively nothing. Something that's questionable about CF is its future. It has come a long way and it now kicks ass and there's lots of potential. But a lot of ppl are a bit worried about its future since Adobe bought Macromedia. But, Hey!! It's not going anywhere, it's only gonna get better. CFML integrates very well with Flash and web services. And on a side note, if you have the money Macromedia's Flex is a pretty cool tool as well for building Rich Internet Apps. there's my 2 cents!!