by DanielN on 10/3/12, 3:44 AM with 50 comments
by adaml_623 on 10/3/12, 8:13 AM
Author says, "the developers of these new tools deserve some serious recognition for the work they are doing" and then totally fails to mention them!
So now we've again been suckered into the 'PHP good' vs 'PHP bad' non-debate.
by error54 on 10/3/12, 5:04 AM
-Take away PHP and the internet would break. The vast majority of websites are either written in PHP or have a PHP back end.
-The LAMP/LNMP stack is by far one of the most deployed web server configuration.
-PHP is extremely well documented and it's been around so long that it's easy to find solutions on the web.
PHP is the Model T of web languages: people love to laugh at it because it's old and ugly but it nearly single-handedly revolutionized the landscape. I for one applaud any efforts to revive and improve this language.
by ericclemmons on 10/3/12, 4:29 AM
PHP as a language isn't great, since it has been around the block in a volatile environment (the web) and shows lack of foresight in language design.
However, PHP is experiencing a renascence with modular components, frameworks and tools utilizing established design patterns, and an overall boost in contribution and collaboration in the open-source community, in large part thanks to Github.
PHP is not dead, and vibrant communities around Symfony and Doctrine are pushing it forward considerably.
In my opinion, large applications can and have been built primarily on PHP while leveraging other languages and tools for their strengths.
by mseebach on 10/3/12, 5:55 AM
by acabal on 10/3/12, 11:20 AM
There's much to be said for backwards compatibility, and PHP does that really well; but there's also much to be said for a new generation built with the mistakes of the past in mind.
I actually really like PHP despite its flaws. It gives the programmer easy, deep control over HTTP output, it's easy to install on new servers, it's easy to deploy (no compilation, just rsync everything!), it has decent built-in templating (if you can learn the quirks), it's OSS, it has rich libraries, rich documentation, and a rich community. But it's also deeply flawed and it deserves a break from the past.
My ideal sort of web language would be something with C# syntax and libraries but with PHP-style OSS-ness, simplicity in output and compilation, and expressiveness in HTML. That would be nice!
by zdw on 10/3/12, 4:43 AM
I've yet to see a better one in any language - it has things like Unix-like pipe chaining of filters, user defined functions, and intelligent caching built in.
I reduced the number of lines in one codebase I worked on by 70% through use of Smarty.
by jrockway on 10/3/12, 9:56 AM
class FakeFooBar(FooBar):
def my_method(self, *args):
self.last_my_method_args = args
return self.result
class TestFooBar(TestCase):
def test_my_method(self):
foobar = FakeFooBar()
foobar.result = 42
self.assertEquals(
foobar.use_my_method('hello world'), 'forty two')
self.assertEquals(
foobar.last_my_method_args, ['hello world'])
Actually, it's not even that verbose compared to mox :)
by jey on 10/3/12, 4:16 AM
by languagehacker on 10/3/12, 6:37 AM
I kind of view the native PHP development server as getting featural parity with Rails and Django. But it seems like that's a major gripe for developers who are averse to working with Apache or Nginx for being too complex.
I'm very excited for traits as a feature. This is when we get into real language features other, more prestigious or "hot" web development languages actually have that PHP lacks. These result in true architectural deficiencies requiring annoying hacks to accommodate.
In the end, PHP itself benefits most from expanding its capacities as a logical formalism. Tools are great, but they're also a lot less easier to get right.
by lunetics on 10/3/12, 4:37 AM
by TamDenholm on 10/3/12, 12:15 PM
I wrote a post on this: http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=4606961
by jentulman on 10/3/12, 8:41 AM
by eik3_de on 10/3/12, 8:56 AM
by gubatron on 10/3/12, 5:44 AM