I started using PHP in 1999 and it was my main language until 2011. But PHP no longer has the advantages that made it outstanding back in 1999. Other languages

I started using PHP in 1999 and it was my main language until 2011. But PHP no longer has the advantages that made it outstanding back in 1999. Other languages caught up and moved ahead. When I need a dynamic language, I'd rather program in Clojure, and when I need strict types, I'd rather work with Java, which is much easier to get going nowadays than it was back in 1999. PHP has Wordpress, in the same way Ruby has Rails. In both cases, the languages survive because they've got at least one great killer app. But both languages have stagnated relative to the developments that happened elsewhere. Circa 2000 it was as obvious as the sun is bright that PHP was the easiest way to program for the Web. Nowadays it is a royal pain. The one place where PHP still has use for me is when I need to write a small server script: I'd rather use PHP than bash. But this is a very small use case.