Why do most web hosting services support only php as server-side language?

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+3 Q:

Why do most web hosting services support only php as server-side language?

Hello,

I have been working with java and python, so I found a nice web host which has support for these.

But my question is, why can you find so hard such hosts?

I understand that php is easy, I also understand that oracle host is hard to find ($$$ of course), but what do they have against some good open-source, completely free java spring, jsp, django, python, ror, perl etc etc ....

So rare to find hosts ... not to mention freelancer bids

Thank you.

I think it's more likely to have PHP because the PHP module and Apache come together on Linux more often. However, I still hosted Python web applications by installing python on my hosted service and working around all the environment related issues. It's not ideal, but that was the only way to do it.

You can check out some of these if they work for you: http://wiki.python.org/moin/FreeHosts

codingbear 2010-06-02 21:02:14

+1 A:

With Java, hosting is more complicated. You can't just load mod_java and go, you need Tomcat or Jboss, or some other Servlet/JSP hosting environment, and they're non-trivial to configure and maintain.

With Python, I think it's just that it's not as commonly used for web services. I use much more Python than Php, but I don't tend to use it for web stuff, aside from the occasional Django site. (Mind, the company I host my personal stuff with charges for Java, but offers Python for "free", same as Php).

Satanicpuppy 2010-06-02 21:03:28

Why is python free and java not ?

HJ-INCPP 2010-06-02 21:13:07

@HJ-INCPP: It's the same as php. With python, it's a simple apache module (mod_python), which can be enabled, no problem. Python scripts just need the right suffix, and be in the right directory, they get picked up by Apache, handled, and you're done. This in no way resembles the process you have to go through to get JSPs and Servlets to function. You need a servlet container (Tomcat/Jboss), and you need to write xml configuration files, etc for each app. So the host has to make a lot more available to you.

Satanicpuppy 2010-06-02 21:49:22

Perhaps because of the popularity of PHP, compared to other tools?

http://stackoverflow.com/tags

In addition, Java is mostly used for enterprise applications.

jpabluz 2010-06-02 21:04:24

That's a terrible metric. This site is php heavy as compared to the actual development going on in the world: http://www.tiobe.com/index.php/content/paperinfo/tpci/index.html

Satanicpuppy 2010-06-02 21:07:37

I don't see any difference in this case, PHP doubles Python. Also, in that list, you don't have specific data on tools like ASP or JSP. But thanks for the info.

jpabluz 2010-06-02 21:20:25

@jpabluz: And Java doubles php, but Java hosting isn't nearly as common as php hosting. Php is more web-centric than either Python or Java, so web hosting is more common.

Satanicpuppy 2010-06-02 21:59:13

Java/Ror are expensive in resources(CPU and RAM)
Perl is supported pretty much everywhere...but not published. Probably not so requested
Python...I don't know. Probably not so requested. But there are several free python hostings, like http://code.google.com/appengine/, and many others. (of course, PHP is stil the king by far)

Pablo Grisafi 2010-06-02 21:05:52

I haven't seen Python support missing from any webhosts ... I'm not sure where you're looking. Checkout out Webfaction - they really are the best for smaller stuff bar none.

Adam Nelson 2010-06-02 22:43:00

One of the reasons may be the lower cost of implementing PHP, which is also less sensitive to resources than Java, requires less resources in order to run. Nevertheless there are also web hosting companies like eApps Hosting that do support Java and Python as well as PHP among others.

Camy 2010-06-03 19:39:07

ansaurus

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Why do most web hosting services support only php as server-side language?

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