> That's basically "PHP is a terrible language for beginners working on their own", which I don't disagree with. I think the problem is that it's a very easy l

> That's basically "PHP is a terrible language for beginners working on their own", which I don't disagree with. I think the problem is that it's a very easy language for getting your feet wet and learning the basics. "Just mix this for loop in with your HTML! Stick it in along side your static .html files! Dynamic content!" Plus there are literally decades of documentation and examples online. The trouble IMO is that up until PHP 7, very little original cruft was ever actually removed from the language. mysql_escape_string was deprecated in v4.3 (2002!!) and still exists on the default v5.X package installs available for Debian, CentOS, etc. It's really hard even for experienced programmers coming from other languages to know what's actually currently the best way of solving a problem. You have to be a well-versed expert to know all the quirks/pitfalls and how to handle them properly.