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Why would one use a language where the best you can say is "it gets the job done". There are so many better options in absolutely every single way that the only

by daakus 15y ago

Why would one use a language where the best you can say is "it gets the job done". There are so many better options in absolutely every single way that the only reason I can fathom for one to start something new using it out of choice is laziness to learn something better.

weego 15y ago
If the technical founders are most comfortable with PHP then getting to market with code you know you can trust can be far more important than picking the "right" language (and by right I mean a language that startup communities see as being a proper language to work with). More props to them for clearly knowing it has its limitations and downsides... I'd pick a developer who used a language they knew inside and out and were informed and aware of the downsides of the language over a zealot who thinks their language of choice works best in every situation (my most common experience of these types are in the ruby community, by a quirk of coincidence). PHP was the language I used to teach myself how to develop for the server-side when I'd been purely a front end dev many years ago and I still like it (though granted I like Scala more) because it's always felt like a language you can sit down and get shit done with quickly and without fuss, and sometimes that is as important as any other attribute you can attach to any other language choice.
malux85 15y ago
Bzzt. Wrong. "It gets the job done" is not the best thing I can say about it, you missed the point of what I was saying. The best thing I can say about it is "I can get things done quickly" I'm not too lazy to learn anything else, I always use the tool that is best for the job at the time. Recently I had to design a web application that outputs MS Word .DOC files in binary form. There's SHIT support for this in PHP, so I wrote the whole web-app in Java, because Java was the right choice given the task at hand and the clients existing platform. PHP is the right choice when I want to get something done quickly ... I can hack a website together in PHP faster than any other language, but it will be exactly that, a hack. PHP's strength is speed of development, and low barrier to entry means lots of developers out there who can help. (High supply of developers also pushes cost down, another bonus for me)

by daakus 15y ago

weego 15y ago

If the technical founders are most comfortable with PHP then getting to market with code you know you can trust can be far more important than picking the "right" language (and by right I mean a language that startup communities see as being a proper language to work with). More props to them for clearly knowing it has its limitations and downsides... I'd pick a developer who used a language they knew inside and out and were informed and aware of the downsides of the language over a zealot who thinks their language of choice works best in every situation (my most common experience of these types are in the ruby community, by a quirk of coincidence). PHP was the language I used to teach myself how to develop for the server-side when I'd been purely a front end dev many years ago and I still like it (though granted I like Scala more) because it's always felt like a language you can sit down and get shit done with quickly and without fuss, and sometimes that is as important as any other attribute you can attach to any other language choice.

malux85 15y ago

Bzzt. Wrong. "It gets the job done" is not the best thing I can say about it, you missed the point of what I was saying. The best thing I can say about it is "I can get things done quickly" I'm not too lazy to learn anything else, I always use the tool that is best for the job at the time. Recently I had to design a web application that outputs MS Word .DOC files in binary form. There's SHIT support for this in PHP, so I wrote the whole web-app in Java, because Java was the right choice given the task at hand and the clients existing platform. PHP is the right choice when I want to get something done quickly ... I can hack a website together in PHP faster than any other language, but it will be exactly that, a hack. PHP's strength is speed of development, and low barrier to entry means lots of developers out there who can help. (High supply of developers also pushes cost down, another bonus for me)