> The closest to it is something like Node, I guess: install the language, you can wire up an HTTP server with a couple functions, but it’s still lacking the si

> The closest to it is something like Node, I guess: install the language, you can wire up an HTTP server with a couple functions, but it’s still lacking the simplicity of PHP there. How is configuring Apache/mod_php/whatever is used these days easier than require('http')...? How about the htaccess shenanigans that had to be used to achieve vanity/custom routing? There's no way the Node stdlib with a hand-rolled path-based router (so as to not require a dependency manager, mimicing PHP - even though npm is packaged) isn't an overall-better story from a simplicity (and performance, and maintainability, and security) standpoint than the Apache/PHP stack. "Drop a bunch of files into a directory and have a dynamic website" was a romantic idea. Most people probably just use(d) cPanel remotely and WAMP/MAMP.app locally and never needed to configure Apache, but that complexity was definitely still there. Analogously: Next.js might be the "WAMP/MAMP.app of today."