4 ms·
The funny thing is, despite being originally inferior in everything but simplicity compared to Perl, PHP has added feature upon feature (usually poorly thought-
by mercurial 12y ago
The funny thing is, despite being originally inferior in everything but simplicity compared to Perl, PHP has added feature upon feature (usually poorly thought-tout) over the years, and nowadays looks like a poorly-designed Perl with a terrible standard library.
- jacquesm 12y agoAnd an absolutely enormous installed base as well as a huge amount of code available for use. It's funny how it succeeded so well in spite of being a fairly crappy language.
- kbenson 12y agoIt really illustrates how useful a quick way to get started with the language is. PHP could provide something useful to the author and others (web content) almost immediately, while Perl required you to understand CGI (to some degree) first. In some respects, PHP's lack of features was beneficial, as each missing feature was something people didn't have to learn about, even if tangentially. No packages or namespaces? A poor module ecosystem develops, but devs didn't need to think about how it worked for the most part.