[punky]

Hey Richard.

It sounds like Java would probably be best for you. Sockets are a doddle. 2D graphics and images are easy to use/munipulate (3D too). You can use ODBC for Java (JDBC) if you really need to store/retrieve data in a database. TBH the data sounds pretty primative, so you could probably store it locally. Don't forget vectors which are pretty powerful and can do DB-like storage. It's all nice and high level.

Next one down i'd say would be VC++. With MFC and below, sockets are alright, along with 2d graphics, but it is much more work - but a little faster and more flexible. Visual Basic does all that too, but is a bit more higher level.

I wouldn't recommend using a scripting language like PHP. I don't know much about Perl, but although PHP has good Socket support and excellent MySql support, it isn't very good for something animated that is going to need refreshing pretty quick. It's also liable to let you down on graphics (You'd probably have to render the images in PHP and layer/position them in HTML - not the end of the world).

HTH