There's a website with an Ajax interface. My goal is to open up the page with Ajax components locally, in a browser, to let the Ajax interface fetch data (in a text file) from my local server. What is a good server-side language for this? i.e. having a competent library for Ajax interfaces. I want something lightweight so Java is kind of out of the question.
I'm currently thinking PHP, NodeJS or Python. Thanks for the help!
NodeJS is great for this. It has its own http module to make requests as well as tons and tons of user-created libraries to help or provide additional info. The http module will give a response that you can easily pipe to a file how you wish. Plus, if you already know Javascript, learning Node is relatively easy.