Choosing between platforms/tools

Hi
I am currently giving my first steps on Web Development. My goal is to build a web site interface capable of browsing topics on a database according to search patterns submited by the user (through submited keywords in the same page - the typical search field). I also wanted to periodically email registered users according to their profiles

Several questions and doubts came up:

Which platform to use, supposing I initially wanted to build a prototype
using one of a standalone PC.

My Question: Linux with APACHE or Windows2000 with IIS ?
My Answer: Lets suppose I adopted "the Microsoft Solution": Windows2000 & IIS


-> Would be Interdev a suitable solution for integrating all the development?

-> What about the different technologies to use: HTML/DHTML XML/ASP/JSP/Java/PHP/JScript/VBScipt/CSS/Perl/CGI/COM objects/ C++ , etc ...with database solutions such as SQL/ MySQL, JDBC/ ODBC...etc
What is the most reasonable approach, taking in account the Web site porpuses? In which languages should I exercice myself?

I would really apreciate your valuable help!

Irina (Lisbon/portugal)

Hey, Irina, and welcome to our forum
Well, it is quite a broad discussion you're bringing up here, but I could explain from my experience some of it.
First of all, it looks like you are building some sort of community, and that is just great. Now, if it is not going to be some major project with 5-digit number of visitors simultaneously then we can elimanate c++ and java since they're used for huge portals (like ebay/ubid and I suppose yahoo/msn). ASP comes from microsoft, and something tells me not to trust it (probably because it looks much like js, which I dont like). JS/VBS are probably you only options for clien side programming, so you'll have to know them by heart, just like html. dhtml is optional, and frankly I haven't leraned it and dont miss it. CSS will help you to make pages 'different browsers friendly', that is you wont have to think that much about netscape not being campatable with 99% of the stuff on the net . XML optional, but it is recommended to at least understand what it is for and how to use it.
So the only two (/three) programming languages you're left with are perl and php (/asp). Generally speaking: it is your call. But I started with perl (long time ago ) and then rapidly moved to php, which I have to say I like more then I do perl. My warm feelings toward ASP are mentioned above.
Most likely at some point you'll want something more, and that is where c and java step in, but it probably wont be for a while. So first I'd recommend to find your way around with php.
Database is a matter of taste, really. Most people use mysql, but theoretically posterge is more advanced, oracle said to be 'high level db', whereas odbc meant to be ubiquitous. As I said, it is your call and which one you will choose depends only on your requirements.
Personally, most of the time I work with php/mysql/xml for server side and html/js/flash for client side, but lately I find myself being more attached to c++, and probably at the end of the day I will move to it.
And yeah, apache is server of choice, but os doesnt really matter that much (let some people argue, but it really doesn't - what matters is administrator)

Just to save my behind, I say that above is IMO, and I sure would like to see what others have to say.

Um... yeah. What he said. heh.

sygnus
I forgot to mention one other thing: if you're a real beginner I dont think you should bother learning any *nix (thats where I and smooth desagree ) and stick with windows for a while.

I disagree. windows doesn't teach things as basic as chmod.
Basic *nix skills, enough for a webmaster, can be learned in a week, IMHO. Mind you, I totally develop on a win machine & either ftp, or ssh into the webserver.

hey,
I wonder what skills can webmaster gain from *nix? chmod? nuh, its just file-assigning-system, can be understood without nix. Probably the only thing I wish I had on windows is cron, but again you can live without it.