What technology should I use/how should I deploy my killer web app?

Question

I finally decided it was time to write that "killer web app" we all dream about. :-) I've been a programmer for almost as long as I can remember so I'm not scared of technology, but I haven't been active in the web world for about a decade. Looking for some help on the direction I should go.

The app I'm considering: (in order of importance)

1) will need to charge my customers securely using someone else's service
2) must scale easily 
3) must be cheap to deploy 
4) must be reasonably responsive (much of it will be client side 
   javascript, but there is some server interaction) 
5) will need a database on the back end (not a huge database, but it will 
   need to scale with the customer base)

I'm thinking of using the following:

Technology: mySQL, PHP, Javascript Deployment: Amazon Cloud Payment: Paypal

Is this the right direction?? (Any tutorial links would be greatly appreciated)

Answer 1

If you could use Java or Python instead of PHP, check out Google App Engine: http://code.google.com/appengine/

1. Use paypal or Chargify or amazon
2. Check
3. Check (free until a high limit)
4. Check (google servers)
5. As long as you don't require a relational database

Answer 2

Use what you know best.

Don't worry too much about technology choices. The technologies you list are "safe" choices in the sense that many successful web apps have been built with them, so you know it can be done. I'd suggest sticking with mainstream technologies for that reason.

Also, don't worry too much about particular techniques and architectures. If your app really takes off, you're going to end up constantly redesigning the internal architecture anyway to keep up with traffic. Just keep it flexible.