Another way to look at this is that PHP enabled you to build a website with 100,000 users with little to no programming knowledge. I doubt it would have been po

Another way to look at this is that PHP enabled you to build a website with 100,000 users with little to no programming knowledge. I doubt it would have been possible to hack on the same forum if it was built in C and needed to be compiled to run. These debates come up all the time here. PHP is a really good introduction to programming, and for people who aren't programming just for programming's sake (i.e. want to build something), it provides the easiest entry point to do that without a formal CS background. It provides a shallow end for self-taught programmers. As for it spoiling your future programming efforts, I don't see why that should be the case. It doesn't prevent you from learning strong typing, strict OO, pointers, etc. That just takes the intellectual curiosity to go beyond your comfort zone.