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PHP is a great fit for the web, always will be. There are “better” languages and solutions but they are usually more difficult to setup or not as easy to learn.

throw_m239339 6y ago
> PHP is a great fit for the web, always will be. There are “better” languages and solutions but they are usually more difficult to setup or not as easy to learn. Talking about shallow comment you could say that from dozens of languages that have saner foundations. > There are “better” languages and solutions but they are usually more difficult to setup or not as easy to learn. No they are not more difficult to set up, not in the era of containers and PAAS. Of course if you still rely on Go Daddy for hosting, it might be...
ptx 6y ago
How is it a great fit for the web, compared to other languages? All its unique strengths (in this very narrow context) are being phased out: 1) It used to be loaded straight into the Apache process as a module, which made it very convenient to get started with but required terrible broken hacks to run multiple applications/users separated from each other in a secure way. But nowadays people are switching to PHP-FPM, which is the same approach used by Python, Java and most other languages. 2) Every possible extension baked right into the language as a global function instead of using namespaces and a package manager like other languages. But nowadays people use namespaces and a package manager, just like in other languages. 3) Templating as part of the core language (in fact the core language is a templating language) so you don't need a separate templating library like in other languages. But nowadays people use separate templating libraries, just like in other languages.
- francislavoie 6y ago
  > But nowadays people are switching to PHP-FPM, which is the same approach used by Python, Java and most other languages. What? Not even close. You can update PHP code by just replacing the files, it's not compiled. PHP-FPM is just a layer that provides a fastcgi interface and manages processes that run PHP. It's super easy to run, super easy to proxy to with Caddy or Nginx or whatever else support fastcgi. Java is compiled, and typically runs its own HTTP server. Python is not compiled, but usually it runs its own HTTP server, or a WSGI server which adds another layer. > Every possible extension baked right into the language as a global function instead of using namespaces and a package manager like other languages. Are you trying to say that global functions are a strength? Namespaces are a big improvement. Many modern PHP extensions provide namespaced classes now, it's mainly the older ones that don't.

throw_m239339 6y ago

> PHP is a great fit for the web, always will be. There are “better” languages and solutions but they are usually more difficult to setup or not as easy to learn. Talking about shallow comment you could say that from dozens of languages that have saner foundations. > There are “better” languages and solutions but they are usually more difficult to setup or not as easy to learn. No they are not more difficult to set up, not in the era of containers and PAAS. Of course if you still rely on Go Daddy for hosting, it might be...

ptx 6y ago

How is it a great fit for the web, compared to other languages? All its unique strengths (in this very narrow context) are being phased out: 1) It used to be loaded straight into the Apache process as a module, which made it very convenient to get started with but required terrible broken hacks to run multiple applications/users separated from each other in a secure way. But nowadays people are switching to PHP-FPM, which is the same approach used by Python, Java and most other languages. 2) Every possible extension baked right into the language as a global function instead of using namespaces and a package manager like other languages. But nowadays people use namespaces and a package manager, just like in other languages. 3) Templating as part of the core language (in fact the core language is a templating language) so you don't need a separate templating library like in other languages. But nowadays people use separate templating libraries, just like in other languages.

francislavoie 6y ago
> But nowadays people are switching to PHP-FPM, which is the same approach used by Python, Java and most other languages. What? Not even close. You can update PHP code by just replacing the files, it's not compiled. PHP-FPM is just a layer that provides a fastcgi interface and manages processes that run PHP. It's super easy to run, super easy to proxy to with Caddy or Nginx or whatever else support fastcgi. Java is compiled, and typically runs its own HTTP server. Python is not compiled, but usually it runs its own HTTP server, or a WSGI server which adds another layer. > Every possible extension baked right into the language as a global function instead of using namespaces and a package manager like other languages. Are you trying to say that global functions are a strength? Namespaces are a big improvement. Many modern PHP extensions provide namespaced classes now, it's mainly the older ones that don't.