OP nailed it. PHP has similarities to Bash scripting. Language sucks. Syntax is awful. You wouldn't want to build anything big with it. You feel dirty and asha

OP nailed it. PHP has similarities to Bash scripting. Language sucks. Syntax is awful. You wouldn't want to build anything big with it. You feel dirty and ashamed every time you use it. But... if you just want to get shit done, it's often the path of least resistance. I can live with the shame. By the way, Mike isn't just talking about PHP here. It also applies to CGI, ColdFusion, ASP, JSP and lots of other old technologies that make you want to cry. Basically anything where you have a web server and you can just drop executable scripts in a directory. Even though I rarely use PHP any more, I still write a lot of my Python and Ruby web-apps using classic CGI instead of the popular frameworks because it's just so quick and easy (and dirty). Deployment is a breeze, managing servers is simple and it's ideal for quick mashups. Been meaning to write more about this: http://helpmewrite.co/people/joewalnes/ideas#idea-1978 http://helpmewrite.co/people/joewalnes/ideas#idea-1978