thinkign about how much easier it was to try online internet web software when i could just go to install dot php and give it my mysql database
now my brain is broken and everything i run is in a docker container and i've never been more miserable
As a 'am i losing my sanity or not' hobby I have been making CGI executables in Rust with rust-cgi and running them on a ancient ass style cheapo regular webhosting service. They still compete on price enough to give you a better deal than a VPS, and you don't need to worry about freaking updates, many security issues or incompatibilities. It feels so mad that this amounts to better service and performance than what many stacks can offer.
I have not gone as far to investigate long lived http and db connections, but given that you can run a cgi script for a few minutes on many cheapo plans, even that isn't out of the question. It would need a very hacky db connection pool solution though.
god i kinda miss CGI too, although i honestly never understood how to set it up on a shared hosting service. i absolutely encourage doing Weird Shit with hosting though, nice one