3 ms·

Like Facebook or Uber? Both started with PHP.

guitarbill 9y ago
So you start with PHP, and you keep adding hacks on top of hacks, until you realise it's hopeless. But you're too invested, so you create a new language that is kind of compatible, and a JIT for good measure. Of course, I hope you got really successful, because you'll need serious engineering talent and money. No language/tech stack is going to ensure success, or have no challenges. But learning from the past is not a weakness.
- laurencei 9y ago
  > But learning from the past is not a weakness. What's the lesson you are learning from? The lesson I see is that any language, even PHP, will give you success if you "build something people want". I read lots of startup "shutdown" stories - and I've not read one that mentioned the choice of "PHP" (or any language) as the reason for shutting down. So if your comfortable with PHP - punch out what you need to get started...
- deleted 9y ago
  [deleted]
- kabes 9y ago
  Businesses usually don't fail because of picking a wrong programming language. If the tool that's best for the job is not the same as the tool you can make what you want the fastest, I'd say go with the tool that gets you where you want the fastest, even if it isn't the best. If you're successful you'll have money to fix that later on. If you're not successful then it doesn't matter which tool you picked anyway. If Zuckerberg would've learned another language first, there might not have been a Facebook.
- philjohn 9y ago
  Or you use sane development practices, well supported libraries and frameworks, and the latest version of PHP and run very successfully, because it's more than fast enough, shared nothing is a viable paradigm and being able to quickly see the effect of code changes without compiling and redeploying into a container is something you miss when working in the Java world. Is it suitable for EVERY application? No. But then again, nothing is a one-size-fits-all solution for all problems.

So you start with PHP, and you keep adding hacks on top of hacks, until you realise it's hopeless. But you're too invested, so you create a new language that is kind of compatible, and a JIT for good measure. Of course, I hope you got really successful, because you'll need serious engineering talent and money. No language/tech stack is going to ensure success, or have no challenges. But learning from the past is not a weakness.

laurencei 9y ago
> But learning from the past is not a weakness. What's the lesson you are learning from? The lesson I see is that any language, even PHP, will give you success if you "build something people want". I read lots of startup "shutdown" stories - and I've not read one that mentioned the choice of "PHP" (or any language) as the reason for shutting down. So if your comfortable with PHP - punch out what you need to get started...
deleted 9y ago
[deleted]
kabes 9y ago
Businesses usually don't fail because of picking a wrong programming language. If the tool that's best for the job is not the same as the tool you can make what you want the fastest, I'd say go with the tool that gets you where you want the fastest, even if it isn't the best. If you're successful you'll have money to fix that later on. If you're not successful then it doesn't matter which tool you picked anyway. If Zuckerberg would've learned another language first, there might not have been a Facebook.
philjohn 9y ago
Or you use sane development practices, well supported libraries and frameworks, and the latest version of PHP and run very successfully, because it's more than fast enough, shared nothing is a viable paradigm and being able to quickly see the effect of code changes without compiling and redeploying into a container is something you miss when working in the Java world. Is it suitable for EVERY application? No. But then again, nothing is a one-size-fits-all solution for all problems.