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> I mean Wordpress flat out resisted PHP 5.0 for years. Years. Everything had to be done in PHP4. I presume that's because of the size of Wordpress' install ba

by jmathai 15y ago

> I mean Wordpress flat out resisted PHP 5.0 for years. Years. Everything had to be done in PHP4. I presume that's because of the size of Wordpress' install base. The number of people who run their software on $9/month shared hosting environments is staggering. Many of those are late to upgrade PHP versions. Wordpress gets a lot of crap for being poorly written but the truth is that it's an example of software that works really well given some really unique circumstances. If the WP devs decided that their software didn't need to support the 99% of web servers out there then it wouldn't be nearly as ubiquitous as it is today.

jacques_chester 15y ago
Wordpress gets a lot of crap for being poorly written because it is poorly written. There's no great mystery here. Yes, they deal with lots of different configurations. This is not unique in the history of software development. It's called "portability" and many organisations seem to be able to achieve it without compromising quality. My searing, eye-boiling hatred for Wordpress comes from administering it for what is now nearly a decade. Every time I dive into the code I am frequently repulsed by it. The total absence of tests is my favourite "feature". I've seen multiple bugs closed with WORKSFORME that I was directly grappling with.
- robryan 15y ago
  You are right it is far from perfect, it is pragmatic and providing a great amount of value for people/ businesses. It is surprising to me that we haven't seen a big challenger trying to do it right from a back end perspective.
  - jacques_chester 15y ago
    Because users don't care about the backend. They care about the shiny features, look-and-feel and the availability of plugins and themes. Wordpress delivers these in spades.
- jmathai 15y ago
  You probably have more experience with Wordpress than I do so I won't try to argue with that :).

by jmathai 15y ago

jacques_chester 15y ago

Wordpress gets a lot of crap for being poorly written because it is poorly written. There's no great mystery here. Yes, they deal with lots of different configurations. This is not unique in the history of software development. It's called "portability" and many organisations seem to be able to achieve it without compromising quality. My searing, eye-boiling hatred for Wordpress comes from administering it for what is now nearly a decade. Every time I dive into the code I am frequently repulsed by it. The total absence of tests is my favourite "feature". I've seen multiple bugs closed with WORKSFORME that I was directly grappling with.

robryan 15y ago
You are right it is far from perfect, it is pragmatic and providing a great amount of value for people/ businesses. It is surprising to me that we haven't seen a big challenger trying to do it right from a back end perspective.
- jacques_chester 15y ago
  Because users don't care about the backend. They care about the shiny features, look-and-feel and the availability of plugins and themes. Wordpress delivers these in spades.
jmathai 15y ago
You probably have more experience with Wordpress than I do so I won't try to argue with that :).