For web development, no other language will get you producing dynamic websites and deploying them as easily as PHP. Compare deployment of Python or Ruby web apps - messier and not simple.
What don't I like about PHP? The language itself. Its piecemeal, adhoc development is laid bare in its unattractive syntax (this is always subjective I know).
On the positive side, my impression is that the PHP community are open to criticism - they have to be given the amount of negative comments thrown their way.
This is in contrast to other language communities that have far too much zeal and sensitivity to criticism.
That criticism against PHP is also taken on board at times in the implementation of PHP's language features or best practices. I've been impressed by PHP's huge speed up in PHP 7. I wish other scripting languages would also address speed and memory usage with the same priority.
Finally, it's worth stating the obvious: if you're looking for a CMS, a message board, a blogging platform etc, PHP gives you enormous choice. And yes, some of these solutions do follow modern, secure coding practices. Look at the other popular scripting languages for web development and you'll find the variety of solutions far more spartan.
https://eev.ee/blog/2012/04/09/php-a-fractal-of-bad-design/#...
1) PHP is slow, uses too much memory. (I wrote the MicroMVC framework and IOSQL)
2) Makes concurrent (and especially parallel) computing hard (file locking and pcntl_fork())
3) PHP isn't well though-out (like Javascript) so you are always second-guessing the std lib because of odd/short-sighted design choices.
I moved to Go and lost nothing.
However, PHP is (like Javascript) improving and will probably eventually (like Javascript) get parallel computing right.
Where the users are the features are. That is why PHP, Java, and Javascript aren't going anywhere fast.
Parallel works. You can even create a deadlock very easy. Also, Node.js can spawn new processes.
> Also, Node.js can spawn new processes.
And yet it handles incoming requests on a single process.
My languages mostly are C-based Bash, Python, Lua, Objective-c, Javascript (EC5), Go, etc...
If someone gives me a big file of text to parse through, even though I know Python, can use Perl and BASH, I'll likely still use PHP if it's a one-time thing (sometimes even if it isn't). Why? Because within 5 minutes, I can have a script that reads a file from anywhere, parses it line by line and does any number of interpretation. No worrying about casting strings to integers, no worries about general syntax or indenting (Ok, this is a benefit of Python, but if you just need to do something on the fly, PHP!).
IMO PHP is very easy to use, very easy to learn and can do almost anything - good and bad. Good because you can use it to solve tons of problems, bad because everyone learns it early on, or as their first language (like me), and therefore most people aren't great at it, the community gets worse.
I happen to like PHP's standard lib: it's big and addresses a lot of needs in building web apps. But you don't really see tons of new high quality bindings or libraries being introduced at the rate that, say, Go is getting them.
If someone told me I had to build a product from scratch in PHP, I would probably start here: https://github.com/exflickr/flamework/blob/master/docs/philo...
While true, this is an apples to oranges comparison. Go libraries, bindings, and extensions are written in Go. PHP bindings and extensions are written in C.
Writing a language extension or library binding in PHP requires an understanding of PHP internals and the C language. Compared to writing a binding or library in Go, this is difficult. It requires the knowledge of 2 languages (instead of 1) and an understanding of how PHP works "under the hood".
However, I think that Zephyr shows promise. It's a high-level language designed for creating PHP extensions, without a direct understanding of PHP internals or C being required. https://zephir-lang.com/ (I just wish it didn't limit you to OO design/implementation.)
Best thing about PHP applications is that even my grandmother can deploy it. Yes, that can be bad or good depending on where you are looking from.
Add frameworks like Laravel and you can create some serious prototypes in no time. That's what I care about to get something out of the door.
I don't use PHP, and these kind of bots are just too noisy to put up with.
What is "annoying" about:
["foo", $bar, BAZ, 1, 2, 3]Well JS goes even further in relation to hashmap/object (e.g. you can iterate object properties as if the object was a relational array, because, well, in JS an object is an array). In PHP, on the other hand, you can't refer to $object['property']
Hovever I have to agree with you when it comes to the overlapping between relational arrays vs "simple" arrays, the fact that all arrays are actually relational introduces weirdness, for example sometimes when you replace an array element you end up with elements that are not in the order you expect them to be.
For example it feels like we can't go a year without WordPress making the news for a security flaw.