5 ms·
From the post: > build compelling alternatives and make sure these alternatives are equally pervasive, as easy to set up and use as possible. A bite later: >
by Loic 14y ago
From the post:
> build compelling alternatives and make sure these alternatives are equally pervasive, as easy to set up and use as possible.
A bite later:
> We've got a long way to go. [...] The best way to fix the PHP problem at this point is to make the alternatives so outstanding that the choice of the better hammer becomes obvious.
Basically, Jeff just agreed that PHP is simply better than the rest. The problem is that he cannot accept that thanks to PHP anybody can code something pretty fast. I am always amazed when I see my brother, without programming knowledge improving his wife website like gardening. Small changes here and there. End at the end the website is making money. He never complained about the "awfulness of PHP".
- Loic 14y agoUpdate: "bite" is a typo, but it fits well :)
- cooldeal 14y ago>..my brother, without programming knowledge.. > He never complained about the "awfulness of PHP". As the article states, if all you know to use is a double clawed hammer, it looks like the best tool for the job.
- wvenable 14y agoThe problem is if you have a garage full of power tools and know how to use them that it's unreasonable to let your 6 year old build a birdhouse with them unsupervised. I'm looking into ASP.NET MVC for a project and if you walk through the "hello world" tutorials with that package they are 10 pages long and filled with lots of magic. As a developer, I understand the significance of that magic and it's long term purpose. But it's probably far from the best tool for the job if your project is simple. The flaw here is perhaps the assumption that the best tool for the job is the same for everyone and the same for every task.
- cageface 14y agoBasically, Jeff just agreed that PHP is simply better than the rest. Easier != better. Nice try.
- polyfractal 14y agoDebatable. What's your end goal? If your primary goal is making money (through the web) and you are non-technical, easier does in fact equal better. The GP's brother isn't going to stop what he's doing and learn Ruby so he can rewrite his whole website in gloriously succinct and elegant code. He's going to tweak his site, continue making money and stop caring about whatever the hell his site is written in.
- cageface 14y agoLife is full of tempting shortcuts. Take them at your peril.
- polyfractal 14y agoWell that's basically saying nothing at all. Again, from the brother's perspective, perhaps learning Ruby is the tempting shortcut ("I'll just learn this awesome language first and my website will be super easy to upgrade and modify") ... and then it takes him too long to get back to his website, which has floundered and is no longer popular or making money. Or ruby was too hard for him so he went back to tweaking his site with PHP. Or <whatever> My point is that it is all about perspective, something that a lot of HN misses. Not everyone cares about technology. Most people just care about getting the job done and making money, using whatever tool is easiest for them to personally use, at the time they need to use it. So to that guy, it isn't a tempting shortcut: it's the best route to prosperity.
- dpritchett 14y agoSimple versus easy [1]. Getting started with minimal friction is a great virtue for the beginning of a project's life, particularly when it allows amateurs to produce something of value. Software development professionals with stronger requirements (reliability, maintainability, ease of code reading) are not always going to reach for the easiest tool. There's a reason most of the software on your machine isn't written in Visual Basic. The people who prefer PHP are right. The people who avoid PHP are also right. They are solving fundamentally different problems. [1] http://www.infoq.com/presentations/Simple-Made-Easy http://www.infoq.com/presentations/Simple-Made-Easy