Not sure if first class functions matter to you, but last time I checked, PHP didn't have them, which is a major annoyance for me. I also find PHP to be quite

Not sure if first class functions matter to you, but last time I checked, PHP didn't have them, which is a major annoyance for me. I also find PHP to be quite the cognitive overhead. The libraries seem to lack consistent naming conventions and since it's all one global namespace, there are a LOT of names to remember. Coding in PHP often feels like repeatedly looking up library functions and 'assembling' them, rather than 'writing' something.