by meneses on 2/13/17, 10:05 AM with 24 comments
by open-source-ux on 2/13/17, 1:37 PM
For web development, no other language will get you producing dynamic websites and deploying them as easily as PHP. Compare deployment of Python or Ruby web apps - messier and not simple.
What don't I like about PHP? The language itself. Its piecemeal, adhoc development is laid bare in its unattractive syntax (this is always subjective I know).
On the positive side, my impression is that the PHP community are open to criticism - they have to be given the amount of negative comments thrown their way.
This is in contrast to other language communities that have far too much zeal and sensitivity to criticism.
That criticism against PHP is also taken on board at times in the implementation of PHP's language features or best practices. I've been impressed by PHP's huge speed up in PHP 7. I wish other scripting languages would also address speed and memory usage with the same priority.
Finally, it's worth stating the obvious: if you're looking for a CMS, a message board, a blogging platform etc, PHP gives you enormous choice. And yes, some of these solutions do follow modern, secure coding practices. Look at the other popular scripting languages for web development and you'll find the variety of solutions far more spartan.
by Avalaxy on 2/13/17, 2:09 PM
by neilsimp1 on 2/13/17, 1:02 PM
https://eev.ee/blog/2012/04/09/php-a-fractal-of-bad-design/#...
by Xeoncross on 2/13/17, 7:05 PM
1) PHP is slow, uses too much memory. (I wrote the MicroMVC framework and IOSQL)
2) Makes concurrent (and especially parallel) computing hard (file locking and pcntl_fork())
3) PHP isn't well though-out (like Javascript) so you are always second-guessing the std lib because of odd/short-sighted design choices.
I moved to Go and lost nothing.
However, PHP is (like Javascript) improving and will probably eventually (like Javascript) get parallel computing right.
Where the users are the features are. That is why PHP, Java, and Javascript aren't going anywhere fast.
by iDemonix on 2/13/17, 3:29 PM
If someone gives me a big file of text to parse through, even though I know Python, can use Perl and BASH, I'll likely still use PHP if it's a one-time thing (sometimes even if it isn't). Why? Because within 5 minutes, I can have a script that reads a file from anywhere, parses it line by line and does any number of interpretation. No worrying about casting strings to integers, no worries about general syntax or indenting (Ok, this is a benefit of Python, but if you just need to do something on the fly, PHP!).
IMO PHP is very easy to use, very easy to learn and can do almost anything - good and bad. Good because you can use it to solve tons of problems, bad because everyone learns it early on, or as their first language (like me), and therefore most people aren't great at it, the community gets worse.
by anamoulous on 2/14/17, 2:03 PM
I happen to like PHP's standard lib: it's big and addresses a lot of needs in building web apps. But you don't really see tons of new high quality bindings or libraries being introduced at the rate that, say, Go is getting them.
If someone told me I had to build a product from scratch in PHP, I would probably start here: https://github.com/exflickr/flamework/blob/master/docs/philo...
by codegeek on 2/13/17, 4:35 PM
Best thing about PHP applications is that even my grandmother can deploy it. Yes, that can be bad or good depending on where you are looking from.
Add frameworks like Laravel and you can create some serious prototypes in no time. That's what I care about to get something out of the door.
by smilesnd on 2/14/17, 11:12 AM
by taf2 on 2/14/17, 1:35 PM
by Bahamut on 2/14/17, 6:10 AM
by wazanator on 2/13/17, 6:26 PM
For example it feels like we can't go a year without WordPress making the news for a security flaw.
by crispytx on 2/13/17, 1:45 PM