The Codist

Whoa, I didn't expect so many comments (here, on dzone and reddit, and who knows where else). Clearly I touched a nerve. However I did learn a lot of things that you don't read in a quicky tutorial on PHP. The whole point of writing something is to get feedback, positive or negative, and hopefully learn from it.

Note that all of the PHP programmers I have known (not a lot since mostly I deal in Java) have complained about their projects, so I admit I haven't known many who where gung-ho about using it for anything beyond a small web app. That's one of the things you get reaching out to a global audience, perspectives you can't get on your own. Yes, I only know the basic syntax of PHP, and Ruby, and Python, a bit more of Perl, a smidgen of C#, Forth and a host of others; that's the problem, it's impossible to be fully aware of all the good (and bad) features of any language/system/framework you don't use. I spent 8-10 years writing C, 5 writing C++, 2 Objective-C and the past 7 with Java. I could write volumes about how much I can't understand why people use C++ at all. At least it would be more honest since I swore at it for 5 years.

My limited experience with PHP coders and the language didn't give me any warm fuzzies, but then again I am sure many PHP coders would feel the same thing about Java, or Perl programmers about C++, or anything one doesn't work with with the basis of your everyday job. It's the nature of this industry, there are way too many ways to do similar things, and no one can be an expert at all of them. I've used way too many things in my life (and continue to learn or develop new ones) but you can't even try them all anymore.

If I had written an article titled 'I Love Java' no one would have taught me anything. The nature of blogging is not to always be a troll but you do have to express an opinion or say something. Sometimes you get called a moron. Sometimes people agree wholeheartedly. Sometimes people agree wholeheartedly that you are a moron.

I still have no interest in using PHP since I have so much experience with Java (in its many forms) and have written my own framework (Fiche). I also have an entire Java stack (Jetty, H2, IBatis, Fiche, etc) which gets me good performance and easy development, so there isn't any real reason to go to a completely new environment. If I would it would most likely be ROR, since that is the new kid on the block. As of right now, I am still a java moron.

Someday I might work on a project where I have to use PHP; at least I will know more than I did last week about it.