Re: [chiPHPug-discuss] In defense of PHP

[Neil Y. <ny...@as...>]

In my experience many programmers' preferences for which language is =
like a
religion.  There are zealots and fanatics of nearly every language you =
can
find and Python is one that draws a fanatical following.  Often the =
language
that is prominent for similar tasks gets their disdain.  That is why you
often see Ruby on Rails, Python, and to a lesser extent Java supporters
attacking PHP. =20

As for some of PHP's merits, it is an easy to use web scripting language
supported on nearly every server platform available and is well =
integrated
with Apache and MySQL.  It tends to run fast with little overhead, so it
scales well, even on mediocre hardware.  It shares a lot of its basic =
syntax
with C and Java, which makes it easy for programmers to transition to.  =
It
has excellent documentation and a large user community to look to for =
help.

But really, the choice of a language should be determined by what works =
best
for the project, the skills of the programmers available, and what kind =
of
integration it will have with existing code.  Python may be a better =
choice
for their project if that is the language that their core group of
developers is comfortable with and has a framework that serves them =
well.

Neil




-----Original Message-----
From: chi...@li...
[mailto:chi...@li...] On Behalf Of =
Steven
Sent: Monday, October 01, 2007 2:15 PM
To: chi...@li...
Subject: [chiPHPug-discuss] In defense of PHP

This art hosting site that I'm a member of has started a topic on their
forums announcing that they're going to be redesigning their entire site
from scratch and that they're looking for volunteers, whether it be =
coding,
beta testing, whatever. The current head programmer has decided that =
they're
going to do it in Python using the Pylons and SQLAlchemy frameworks.
Whatever those are. I tried reading some of the Pylons framework's =
website
and couldn't understand what the heck they were talking about.

Of course, someone decides to step in and mention that it could simply =
be
done in PHP, but much to my irritation, that sparks a debate on the =
verge of
a flame war in which every programming staff member of that site bashes =
PHP
and considers it a horrible language that "resists being written =
nicely".
And since they're so close-minded about it, I of course decide to step =
in:
http://www.furaffinityforums.net/showthread.php?tid=3D12643&pid=3D218320#=
pid2183
20
(Yes, it's furaffinity. *chuckles*)

What I find strangest is that these programming staff members seem to =
know
infinitely more than I do about programming. Yet they are so =
close-minded on
PHP that they'll re-write their entire website and forum from the ground =
up
using frameworks and a language that's more for PC programming rather =
than
in a language designed for the web?

This is confusing. How can someone become as knowledgeable in =
programming as
they apparently are yet not see how good PHP is for web things? Do they =
see
something I don't?

I'm beginning to wonder if PHP has any merit at all. What does PHP have =
that
other languages doesn't that makes it worth using. Does PHP even have =
any
advantages to other languages?

You guys are probably the closest to a PHP authority that I have easy =
access
to, so I pose the above question to you guys. Reinforce my view of my
'native' language being a good one. Or at least give me some grounds to
stand on should I need to defend PHP in a debate like the one I =
mentioned
above.
=20
~Amaroq Wolf




=20
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and lay it on us.
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