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The creators of JSX (Facebook employees obviously) once said in a talk that their biggest inspiration for JSX was server-side PHP code which supports being inte

by jannes 6y ago

The creators of JSX (Facebook employees obviously) once said in a talk that their biggest inspiration for JSX was server-side PHP code which supports being interspersed with HTML.

TomMarius 6y ago
Yes, XHP, also by Facebook
hombre_fatal 6y ago
Link? You might be misremembering Pete Hunt's talk about React's design decisions: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x7cQ3mrcKaY https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x7cQ3mrcKaY where he makes the case against the "separation of concerns" cargo cult.
- jannes 6y ago
  Sorry, I don't remember the link. It may have been this talk from 2013, but I haven't rewatched it: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XxVg_s8xAms https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XxVg_s8xAms However, if you check out the History section [0] on Wikipedia you will see this confirmed: > React was created by Jordan Walke, a software engineer at Facebook, who released an early prototype of React called "FaxJS". He was influenced by XHP, an HTML component library for PHP. [0]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/React_(web_framework)#History https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/React_(web_framework)#History
brlewis 6y ago
> PHP code which supports being interspersed with HTML You're one of a large number of people who say this, but it is false. PHP intersperses a programming language with static strings. Those static strings frequently adhere to HTML syntax, but that's aside from PHP. What is HTML? It's not random strings; it's a syntax. JSX is much closer to interspersing HTML with a Turing-complete programming language than PHP ever was, because frequently the mistakes that make JSX not compile are the same mistakes that make HTML invalid. Admittedly I haven't used PHP since 2012, but at least back then you could make all the HTML mistakes you wanted, and PHP wouldn't bat an eyelash. EDIT: Here's someone else's comment making the same point in different words. If my comment doesn't make sense to you try this one: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=23144268 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=23144268
- wtetzner 6y ago
  You're technically correct, but I don't think the distinction adds anything to the conversation. I don't know if PHP was the inspiration for JSX, but if the strings they were using in PHP was HTML, then it could have been. EDIT: Sounds like JSX was inspired by XHP: https://www.facebook.com/notes/facebook-engineering/xhp-a-new-way-to-write-php/294003943919/ https://www.facebook.com/notes/facebook-engineering/xhp-a-ne...
  - jraph 6y ago
    Besides, the parent never said that PHP was restricted to being mixed with HTML, they just said that it was possible. The contradiction of this is technically incorrect.
  - brlewis 6y ago
    A lot of the objections people have to "mixing code and HTML" stem from experience with PHP and similar technologies. The distinction is important, because JSX is less objectionable than PHP.

by jannes 6y ago

The creators of JSX (Facebook employees obviously) once said in a talk that their biggest inspiration for JSX was server-side PHP code which supports being interspersed with HTML.

TomMarius 6y ago

Yes, XHP, also by Facebook

hombre_fatal 6y ago

Link? You might be misremembering Pete Hunt's talk about React's design decisions: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x7cQ3mrcKaY https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x7cQ3mrcKaY where he makes the case against the "separation of concerns" cargo cult.

jannes 6y ago
Sorry, I don't remember the link. It may have been this talk from 2013, but I haven't rewatched it: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XxVg_s8xAms https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XxVg_s8xAms However, if you check out the History section [0] on Wikipedia you will see this confirmed: > React was created by Jordan Walke, a software engineer at Facebook, who released an early prototype of React called "FaxJS". He was influenced by XHP, an HTML component library for PHP. [0]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/React_(web_framework)#History https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/React_(web_framework)#History

brlewis 6y ago

> PHP code which supports being interspersed with HTML You're one of a large number of people who say this, but it is false. PHP intersperses a programming language with static strings. Those static strings frequently adhere to HTML syntax, but that's aside from PHP. What is HTML? It's not random strings; it's a syntax. JSX is much closer to interspersing HTML with a Turing-complete programming language than PHP ever was, because frequently the mistakes that make JSX not compile are the same mistakes that make HTML invalid. Admittedly I haven't used PHP since 2012, but at least back then you could make all the HTML mistakes you wanted, and PHP wouldn't bat an eyelash. EDIT: Here's someone else's comment making the same point in different words. If my comment doesn't make sense to you try this one: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=23144268 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=23144268

wtetzner 6y ago
You're technically correct, but I don't think the distinction adds anything to the conversation. I don't know if PHP was the inspiration for JSX, but if the strings they were using in PHP was HTML, then it could have been. EDIT: Sounds like JSX was inspired by XHP: https://www.facebook.com/notes/facebook-engineering/xhp-a-new-way-to-write-php/294003943919/ https://www.facebook.com/notes/facebook-engineering/xhp-a-ne...
- jraph 6y ago
  Besides, the parent never said that PHP was restricted to being mixed with HTML, they just said that it was possible. The contradiction of this is technically incorrect.
- brlewis 6y ago
  A lot of the objections people have to "mixing code and HTML" stem from experience with PHP and similar technologies. The distinction is important, because JSX is less objectionable than PHP.