Speaking descriptively, not normatively, it just seems the industry is moving towards easier, not safer. yes, including PHP, but also python and ruby. I think

Speaking descriptively, not normatively, it just seems the industry is moving towards easier, not safer. yes, including PHP, but also python and ruby. I think the trade-off is that safer requires more upfront design, and is more viscous (harder to change). Whereas industry seems to get better end-results, with less design and faster iteration (i.e. so-called extreme programming). What's the point goes the argument of getting the wrong thing perfectly correct?. Added to this is the relative unpopularity of safer languages like SML etc. Statically typed languages (Java etc) are mainly popular more because of performance, not safety. So... I predict easier will continue to beat safer... in terms of popularity.