This is fairly well-trod territory: http://www.google.com/search?q=why+php+sucks http://www.google.com/search?q=why+php+sucks A good resource for comparing la

This is fairly well-trod territory: http://www.google.com/search?q=why+php+sucks http://www.google.com/search?q=why+php+sucks A good resource for comparing languages is the shootout: http://shootout.alioth.debian.org/gp4sandbox/benchmark.php?test=all&lang=all http://shootout.alioth.debian.org/gp4sandbox/benchmark.php?test=all&lang=all Most people just refer to the overall scores, but what's more interesting is seeing the same program done in different languages. This one is pretty straightforward: http://shootout.alioth.debian.org/gp4sandbox/benchmark.php?test=nbody&lang=php&id=0 http://shootout.alioth.debian.org/gp4sandbox/benchmark.php?test=nbody&lang=php&id=0 Compare to the same thing in Python, Ruby, Scheme, Common Lisp, and Haskell: http://shootout.alioth.debian.org/gp4sandbox/benchmark.php?test=nbody&lang=python&id=0 http://shootout.alioth.debian.org/gp4sandbox/benchmark.php?test=nbody&lang=python&id=0 http://shootout.alioth.debian.org/gp4sandbox/benchmark.php?test=nbody&lang=ruby http://shootout.alioth.debian.org/gp4sandbox/benchmark.php?test=nbody&lang=ruby http://shootout.alioth.debian.org/gp4sandbox/benchmark.php?test=nbody&lang=chicken&id=3 http://shootout.alioth.debian.org/gp4sandbox/benchmark.php?test=nbody&lang=chicken&id=3 http://shootout.alioth.debian.org/gp4sandbox/benchmark.php?test=nbody&lang=sbcl http://shootout.alioth.debian.org/gp4sandbox/benchmark.php?test=nbody&lang=sbcl http://shootout.alioth.debian.org/gp4sandbox/benchmark.php?test=nbody&lang=ghc http://shootout.alioth.debian.org/gp4sandbox/benchmark.php?test=nbody&lang=ghc