9 ms·

I did try to mention this before, with creating a Slack clone [0]. PHP and MySQL which is what this is written in are not very sexy but they're perfect for when

by icc97 9y ago

I did try to mention this before, with creating a Slack clone [0]. PHP and MySQL which is what this is written in are not very sexy but they're perfect for when you want the entire world to be able to use it. There's reasons why PHP has been so successful with WordPress and Facebook. [0]: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=16567271 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=16567271

bpicolo 9y ago
> for when you want the entire world to be able to use it True in 2004, today options are plentiful.
- rando444 9y ago
  I think that's the point. More options = more skills needed.
- mgkimsal 9y ago
  And in 2004, people said the same thing. Perl, Python, JSP, ASP, CF - people argued for and used all of those on major projects in 2004.
bausshf 9y ago
I love how you mention Facebook, yet Facebook moved away from traditionally PHP and made their own PHP engine and has a lot of native code in C++.
- icc97 9y ago
  They still got all their initial scale from PHP until they were so big that it was worth writing their own PHP engine. They would have had the same problem with Python or JavaScript.
  - bausshf 9y ago
    Indeed, but it's a classic example of why you shouldn't use something just because it's popular.
    - russdpale 9y ago
      Very true, that is always a recipe for disaster. Especially when we have so many tools to build with.
eatinggrin 9y ago
The reason why bitcoin is so popular is because it's a "protocol" and not a specific implementation. If there was really going to be a distributed social network, it shouldn't require downloading anything at all. Maybe instead, we can use a some already agreed upon protocol... like... english language!
davidy123 9y ago
I find it very strange that nobody includes, y'know, Wikipedia in these kinds of conversations. Don't you think Wikipedia is more important than Facebook and Wordpress? As a person involved in mainstream Internet adoption, I consider it as important as the Internet in establishing free, participatory hypertext information. In addition to the fact people now assume they can just find something out without commercial supplication, all the major Internet media companies and pretty much the modern field of AI depend on the knowledge it provides. Yes, "most people" may not know it's participatory / non commercial / that search results are largely based on it / that you can download all its content and tools and run your own. It still is. Anyway, Wikipedia is mainly written in PHP and uses MySQL. But past this point, if we are talking about decentralized peer to peer systems, something based on Javascript that runs entirely in the browser is the real gold standard, at least until a protocol-based network breaks through.
- icc97 9y ago
  Quite right, I forgot it. But it furthers the point I think.
  - davidy123 9y ago
    It furthers it for early 2000s projects for sure, a time when getting your site on a Web server was easiest with PHP and most sites didn't rely heavily on AJAX. But now most startups will start in "the cloud," using SPA designs, where PHP is not significant.

by icc97 9y ago

bpicolo 9y ago

> for when you want the entire world to be able to use it True in 2004, today options are plentiful.

rando444 9y ago
I think that's the point. More options = more skills needed.
mgkimsal 9y ago
And in 2004, people said the same thing. Perl, Python, JSP, ASP, CF - people argued for and used all of those on major projects in 2004.

bausshf 9y ago

I love how you mention Facebook, yet Facebook moved away from traditionally PHP and made their own PHP engine and has a lot of native code in C++.

icc97 9y ago
They still got all their initial scale from PHP until they were so big that it was worth writing their own PHP engine. They would have had the same problem with Python or JavaScript.
- bausshf 9y ago
  Indeed, but it's a classic example of why you shouldn't use something just because it's popular.
  - russdpale 9y ago
    Very true, that is always a recipe for disaster. Especially when we have so many tools to build with.

eatinggrin 9y ago

The reason why bitcoin is so popular is because it's a "protocol" and not a specific implementation. If there was really going to be a distributed social network, it shouldn't require downloading anything at all. Maybe instead, we can use a some already agreed upon protocol... like... english language!

davidy123 9y ago

I find it very strange that nobody includes, y'know, Wikipedia in these kinds of conversations. Don't you think Wikipedia is more important than Facebook and Wordpress? As a person involved in mainstream Internet adoption, I consider it as important as the Internet in establishing free, participatory hypertext information. In addition to the fact people now assume they can just find something out without commercial supplication, all the major Internet media companies and pretty much the modern field of AI depend on the knowledge it provides. Yes, "most people" may not know it's participatory / non commercial / that search results are largely based on it / that you can download all its content and tools and run your own. It still is. Anyway, Wikipedia is mainly written in PHP and uses MySQL. But past this point, if we are talking about decentralized peer to peer systems, something based on Javascript that runs entirely in the browser is the real gold standard, at least until a protocol-based network breaks through.

icc97 9y ago
Quite right, I forgot it. But it furthers the point I think.
- davidy123 9y ago
  It furthers it for early 2000s projects for sure, a time when getting your site on a Web server was easiest with PHP and most sites didn't rely heavily on AJAX. But now most startups will start in "the cloud," using SPA designs, where PHP is not significant.