Which language is better for this software?

3 replies
On another site, I put out a request for a piece of software that allows the user to add text to an image. So far I've received 2 replies. One said he'd build it with C# and C++, the other said Python.

My question is, which language will make a better piece of software? It will be added to a Wordpress based membership site. Any insight would be greatly appreciated.
#language #software
  • Profile picture of the author dalecosp
    Originally Posted by tracyaustin View Post

    On another site, I put out a request for a piece of software that allows the user to add text to an image. So far I've received 2 replies. One said he'd build it with C# and C++, the other said Python.

    My question is, which language will make a better piece of software? It will be added to a Wordpress based membership site. Any insight would be greatly appreciated.
    Well, to a certain extent, it's the quality of the engineer, not the language he uses.

    But I'm not sure you've provided enough info about your software idea to allow an experience person to make an accurate judgment about that. For example, it kind of sounds like you are reinventing the wheel:

    allows the user to add text to an image.
    What you're describing here is Photoshop by Adobe, GIMP by the GNU/Free Software Project, Paint by Microsoft, and a host of other programs (there's a brand-new Mac OS app coming to the desktop just this week that's making a few waves, too!)

    Of course, you mention that this fits into a WordPress site ... I think ... so that, at least, is a clue that maybe you want to have your software "in the cloud" or located inside the WP site.

    In that case, it *might* be that PHP would be the preferred language, because that is what WP itself is written in, and therefore you could be reasonably sure that it would be available on your web server/system. It might be a WP "plugin"....

    Now, you make no mention of expected scale, server resources / hosting systems (or OS), budget, time of delivery, etc. etc.

    PHP is generally a fairly quick language to work with, but so is Python. Ruby is also making headway in this area, and the real behemoth on the horizon of the WWW in general is server-side JavaScript (although anyone who's using this right now will feel pretty high-on-the-hog and might be expensive --- probably still cheaper than the C++ guys, though).

    Speed *of execution* is also usually important.and Python or C#/++ are generally found to be faster in testing than PHP (or to a lesser extent Ruby) ... if a way could be found to integrate them into your site (if, indeed, that's what you're planning/thinking to do) they might be a good choice.

    But it all depends on many factors. You can often find someone to write PHP or "easier" languages (Python?) for less money ... keeping in mind that often "you get what you pay for" ... the real hazard in software, though, is that sometimes you pay for a Limo and still end up with a VW Beetle.

    Start by spending some time online searching for software that already does what you want. If you don't find it, find some techie types you can trust (perhaps no small feat in and of itself), and give them more information about your idea and see what they suggest.

    Hope this is helpful,

    dalecosp
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  • Profile picture of the author tracyaustin
    Yes, your response is very helpful. I appreciate it!
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  • Profile picture of the author kdavies
    Wordpress is written in PHP so PHP is your best bet. Also, it's fairly easy to add text to an image using imagemagick.
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