Ask HN: Which stack is as boring (good boring) and cheap in 2023 as PHP?

38 points

3 years ago

It is 2023 and I want to develop a web app (backend) as a part of an MVP. Here's the twist: I want to:

- use boring technology - iterate fast - deploy with minimal cost for now

The web frameworks I have used recently (Spring, Rails, Express, Django, Flask, Elixir) coupled with Heroku, or Fly.io, or Kubernetes - they just don't cut it for me. Don't get me wrong: I have used most of the above in production and they fit and perform well, not for an MVP though. The closest I had it to my taste was with serverless (Zappa on AWS Lambda), but it felt like the framework was quite immature by the time.

Some long time ago I have been using PHP. I only have vague memories of copying files over FTP, having my site deployed instantly, and at practically no cost (hey, even with a "shared" DB). Development was fun, but I don't know if I am romanticizing it now, or if the ecosystem was actually making it simple and fast.

So, to your taste, what compares in 2023 to the romanticized experience of PHP in 2000s? Or should I just "undust" my PHP and learn Laravel?

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