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"Finally, let's use his tool analogy. PHP is a double-clawed hammer. What if your job was to remove nails from wood all day?" Brilliant.

agscala 14y ago
Not brilliant. You can use a regular hammer just fine to pull nails out of wood all day AND to nail the occasional one in should the need arise.
- optymizer 14y ago
  Pulling nails all day long with one side will quickly wear off that side - it won't be as sharp and you'll have to throw away the tool. Double claws will allow you to use the SAME tool twice as long (that's 99% of what you do, remember?), will avoid rotating the hammer 180 degrees in certain situations (constrained space, two nails - one on the left, one on the right) and you get to hammer an occasional (1%) nail with the side without changing tools. I think the original analogy was indeed brilliant, given the context.
  - scott_w 14y ago
    As someone who has been hammering nails and pulling out nails for the past 8 weeks, I can assure you that hitting them with the side of the hammer is a very, very bad idea. Also, you never find yourself in a situation where you're just pulling out nails. A large number are too difficult to pull out, or will damage the structure you're pulling them from, so you hammer them down.
    - deleted 14y ago
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- smutticus 14y ago
  But it would take you longer because you would have to turn the hammer on occasion. You would also have to consider an additional failure scenario where turning the hammer caused you to drop it.
numeromancer 14y ago
IOW, the double-claw "hammer" is just what you may need if your job is to pull nails out of houses that are unsafe because they were built by carpenters who used double-claw "hammer"s to hammer in the nails. Got it. The analogy is almost perfect! Except that PHP doesn't pull out nails very well.
SomeCallMeTim 14y ago
>Brilliant. Except that, if you're removing nails, there are much better tools than the claw on a hammer. [1][2] I've done demolition, and I've had to pull a lot of nails, and the claw on a hammer is about the last tool I'd use for the job. I basically only use the claw to straighten or remove a partly-hammered nail that's gone wrong. So yes, the analogy is brilliant. [1] For really big nails, more leverage is good, and the hole in the flat part can be used to pull longer nails out than you can pull with a hammer claw: http://refer.ly/abwW http://refer.ly/abwW [2] To get a nail started, something sharper with points, and that (here's the important bit) can be HAMMERED under the nail head: http://refer.ly/abw2 http://refer.ly/abw2

agscala 14y ago

Not brilliant. You can use a regular hammer just fine to pull nails out of wood all day AND to nail the occasional one in should the need arise.

optymizer 14y ago
Pulling nails all day long with one side will quickly wear off that side - it won't be as sharp and you'll have to throw away the tool. Double claws will allow you to use the SAME tool twice as long (that's 99% of what you do, remember?), will avoid rotating the hammer 180 degrees in certain situations (constrained space, two nails - one on the left, one on the right) and you get to hammer an occasional (1%) nail with the side without changing tools. I think the original analogy was indeed brilliant, given the context.
- scott_w 14y ago
  As someone who has been hammering nails and pulling out nails for the past 8 weeks, I can assure you that hitting them with the side of the hammer is a very, very bad idea. Also, you never find yourself in a situation where you're just pulling out nails. A large number are too difficult to pull out, or will damage the structure you're pulling them from, so you hammer them down.
  - deleted 14y ago
    [deleted]
smutticus 14y ago
But it would take you longer because you would have to turn the hammer on occasion. You would also have to consider an additional failure scenario where turning the hammer caused you to drop it.

numeromancer 14y ago

IOW, the double-claw "hammer" is just what you may need if your job is to pull nails out of houses that are unsafe because they were built by carpenters who used double-claw "hammer"s to hammer in the nails. Got it. The analogy is almost perfect! Except that PHP doesn't pull out nails very well.

SomeCallMeTim 14y ago

>Brilliant. Except that, if you're removing nails, there are much better tools than the claw on a hammer. [1][2] I've done demolition, and I've had to pull a lot of nails, and the claw on a hammer is about the last tool I'd use for the job. I basically only use the claw to straighten or remove a partly-hammered nail that's gone wrong. So yes, the analogy is brilliant. [1] For really big nails, more leverage is good, and the hole in the flat part can be used to pull longer nails out than you can pull with a hammer claw: http://refer.ly/abwW http://refer.ly/abwW [2] To get a nail started, something sharper with points, and that (here's the important bit) can be HAMMERED under the nail head: http://refer.ly/abw2 http://refer.ly/abw2