I think that the differences are bigger for inexperienced developers (and experienced ones who don't try to understand the theory underlying their work). A nov

I think that the differences are bigger for inexperienced developers (and experienced ones who don't try to understand the theory underlying their work). A novice PHP developer will (or at least would have 5 years ago) create a messy script with interspersed HTML and PHP, a SQL injection vulnerability or two, and little code organization. A novice Java developer will implement a bunch of patterns they don't understand (probably misusing them), and write a mess of code with too many side-effects. An experienced developer can write good code in either language, and many of the patterns will end up looking similar.