[Hidden-tech] Python vs PHP

[Alan Frank]

I am developing an online version of a commercial tabletop game.  I am 
doing this for two main reasons--it's an interesting project and I hope 
to be able to gain and demonstrate skills which will help me get a job 
as a software developer.

The initial version of the game (which you can see at 
http://www.8wheels.org/campagne) is written in PHP.  Now that I have it 
working, I am getting ready to try out various machine learning 
techniques to improve its play.  These will include using a genetic 
algorithm, converting the strategy module to use a neural network and 
training that, and doing lookahead, which is time-consuming, so I will 
use AWS Lambda to try out various possibilities in parallel.

The question I have is whether to continue with PHP or convert the 1350 
lines of code to Python.  The reasons to convert are that Lambda does 
not have native support for PHP (a perplexing decision) and that many ML 
packages (particularly pytorch) are written in Python (might it also 
look better on my resume?).  The reasons not to convert are that it's a 
fair effort and that I much prefer PHP to Python.  There is also the 
possibility of keeping the UI portion in PHP and converting the logic to 
Python.

I'd appreciate any insight or guidance.

--Alan