What is the fastest and most reliable server side scripting language?

Although I know that all the server side scripting languages can do the job that php can do, But out of all the server side scripting languages which one is faster? If you think that a server side programming language is the best, I'd like to know the reason why you think it is the best. Do you think that php is the best server side programming language for a website like facebook?What is the fastest and most reliable server side scripting language?
I had a chart once that compared stress tests for PHP, Java, ASP %26amp; .NET, Ruby and a few others but I can't find it. They each seem to have their own little tasks that individually they perform marginally better at but overall the differences are negligible. You're choice can be based on the system setup you have to work with and personal preference - there is rarely a need for a complexity driven choice in web scripting but I'd wager that on these occasions most of the pros start to incorporate Python in some capacity as far as performance goes.



As for sites as big as Facebook, they use a multitude of languages to squeeze as much performance out as they can. Not only that, the actual interpreters and even the operating systems have been customized to give them a bespoke setup.



Few probably know the full extent of sites as large as Facebook but in anycase you'd never need to worry about such a complex system - they have teams of people who each specialize in different aspects of it, which brings me back to my initial point: Just pick a language you like.What is the fastest and most reliable server side scripting language?
I think PHP is best, but that's just because I think it's easiest to use, I guess SQL is also good, but that's more database side... the only reason facebook is so effective with PHP is because they spend millions of dollars each day on servers, so it's no surprise really. But at the end of the day it all comes down to your programming style and preference.