I'll be honest. I really don't like PHP. However when I was running a coding workshop, very frequently people would ask:
"How do I make a web page talk to a database?"
I'd say: Well, you know that HTML file? Rename it to become a PHP file and you're almost there!
As pretty much all cheap hosting already offers support for PHP (and MySQL for that matter) this would almost always work.
I would love to be able to do this with NodeJS, but imagine teaching that to an absolute beginner. The conversation would have to begin with hosting platforms / SSH / server management / reverse proxies etc....
"How do I make a web page talk to a database?"
I'd say: Well, you know that HTML file? Rename it to become a PHP file and you're almost there!
As pretty much all cheap hosting already offers support for PHP (and MySQL for that matter) this would almost always work.
I would love to be able to do this with NodeJS, but imagine teaching that to an absolute beginner. The conversation would have to begin with hosting platforms / SSH / server management / reverse proxies etc....