Time to beat this dead horse again!

PHP as a language isn't great, since it has been around the block in a volatile environment (the web) and shows lack of foresight in language design.

However, PHP is experiencing a renascence with modular components, frameworks and tools utilizing established design patterns, and an overall boost in contribution and collaboration in the open-source community, in large part thanks to Github.

PHP is not dead, and vibrant communities around Symfony and Doctrine are pushing it forward considerably.

In my opinion, large applications can and have been built primarily on PHP while leveraging other languages and tools for their strengths.