I'd say that web programming architecture has been converging between most languages. What's shown here is: - Setup a library tracking system (composer, the au

I'd say that web programming architecture has been converging between most languages. What's shown here is: - Setup a library tracking system (composer, the autoload stuff) - Setup basic Dependency Injection (using code in this case, but the same could be done through config files or annotations) - Parse requests into a request class - Setup a middleware chain, including a router, and dispatch a request through it How is this different from flask/django (python), rails (ruby), or gin (golang)? I'd say the basic concepts are pretty much the same, except maybe the library handling part. In other words, I don't think there's enough "meat" in this example to appreciate actual relevant language differences. Also, you can write "java-like, enterprisey" code (Symfony) that values explicitness over magic, or go the other way around following the "convention over configuration" mantra, and end up at Laravel that is much more Rails-like. Finally, PHP is still has several advantages over java for many people out there: - Every request starts from scratch, meaning it is impossible to accidentally provoke side-effects on other requests - The package system (composer) is just a package management system, and hence MUCH simpler to understand than ant/maven/ivy, that are entire build systems that also want to control testing, deployment, and everything - Development is faster-paced thanks to the lack of compilation. You can even easily setup an environment with auto-reloading and just "save updated code" -> "see result in less than a second". - You can deploy your app to any of a horde of (cheap) hosting providers and let others deal with the ops side. The service may exist in java-land, but it certainly isn't as ubiquitous. - PHP programmers are cheap (yes, cheaper than java-programmers).