Note: this is a repost from the eschipul.com blog at https://www.eschipul.com/2016/10/why-tendenci-chose-python-over-php/.
Why did our team choose to rewrite Tendenci - The Open Source AMS in the Python Programming language? It is a question I get asked a lot. We’ve never been a company that likes to talk in the negative if at all possible, yet it is important to talk about the megatrends going on given we work with associations and nonprofits.
Source: https://www.upguard.com/blog/which-web-programming-language-is-the-most-secure
Source: http://info.whitehatsec.com/rs/whitehatsecurity/images/statsreport2014-20140410.pdf
Source: http://info.whitehatsec.com/rs/whitehatsecurity/images/statsreport2014-20140410.pdf
The popularity of a language is a trend, and what you want is for as many developers familiar with and like the language of your open-source project as possible. This means you have a better chance to have a secure website and therefore a more secure future.
To be fair – as Disraeli said – “lies, damn lies and statistics” – so there is no one perfectly secure language any more than there is a perfectly “safe” hammer. There will always be operator errors and programmers make mistakes.
We’re not saying Python is perfect, and all of us have used most of the other programming languages on those charts at some point. We’re just saying we are pleased so many other programmers also like Python and Open Source. THAT is the best that can be done to secure your future online. Secure code that you can examine yourself and even host yourself!
Which language would you choose if you are in it for the long term?
Further, given we focus on non-profits, associations, memberships, education, medical, and religious - basically the do-good cause-based organizations, I believe it is particularly important that the project is as transparent as possible.
Sometimes it is healthy to inform everyone of WHY we made a decision seven years ago. Python was the right call.
There are many good reasons to be open source, like being able to leverage tons of bootstrap themes.
And we hope you will join us! A few helpful links for the Tendenci community.
- Source code: https://github.com/tendenci/tendenci
- ReadtheDocs (for developers): https://tendenci.readthedocs.io
- Tendenci Help Files (easiest to google it but still): https://www.tendenci.com/help-files/
- Support Options: https://www.tendenci.com/support/
We also offer secure hosting in the Tendenci Cloud at AWS. But you don't have to host or even have us develop your site. We love our community of developers and non-hosting Tendenci websites!
Not sure what to do next? You can check out our AMS demo site at https://demo.tendenci.com or contact us for more info on Tendenci - The Open Source AMS!