> The defacto package manager, Composer, is also world class.

Composer suddenly got good, didn't it! Composer 1.x was one of my pain points I think.

I can't think of many things that really bug me much anymore.

Null coalescing operators and named parameters are the kinds of things that make me happy.

I also adore Laravel (and particularly Lighthouse).

But what I really like about PHP is the humility and maturity of the whole endeavour. It's really typified by Rasmus Lerdorf who openly critiques his own abilities and seeks out smart people.