Comment by nahreally | Hacker News Reader

Comment by nahreally | Hacker News Reader

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> The allegation that PHP is being used by people who don't know anything else is just subjective and wrong, and ultimately nothing but flamebait.

That wasn't my allegation, though it's a good point you bring; PHP is sold as a language for novices, and novices tend to use it, despite being the most difficult language in common use due to its innumerable pitfalls, which isn't aided by the poor instruction material all over.

> You can get cheap PHP devs because PHP is so ubiquitous. You can also get really good ones.

No, but really, the pay is generally less. Being a good PHP dev is less profitable than being a good Java or Ruby one, if the same holds for other countries, then I guess that accounts even more for the reputation of the language (people who are actually good programmers tend to move to other languages for better pay among other things).

And, you know, this wasn't the point. With much better alternatives available, why choose PHP if not for familiarity or cheapness of labour?

> PHP is sold as a language for novices, and novices tend to use it

These things are highly cyclical as I said, and I believe "PHP for absolute dummies"-style literature is already well past its heyday, being replaced by "RoR for absolute dummies" and, in time, other languages and frameworks. I agree about the pitfalls and that PHP is not a good language for beginners.

> Being a good PHP dev is less profitable than being a good Java or Ruby one

I don't know, it's possible. I look at this from an all-rounder's perspective, so the process is generally different. In most cases, language choice is something that happens after the project's needs have been identified. And yes, sometimes that does mean I suggest PHP when I think it's appropriate. It's never been an issue once, neither as far a client acceptance nor technical follow-through was concerned.

> why choose PHP if not for familiarity or cheapness of labour?

There are a few factors that influence this, and the developer's taste is always a big one. When in doubt I tend to avoid the application server pattern. But things that have moved me towards PHP in the past were pretty diverse. PHP's per-request execution model can have big advantages, especially when dealing with huge applications. Depending on the nature of the project, development speed can be faster. Sometimes I choose PHP over another solution because I know there will be less code to write (and I avoid it in situations where a PHP solution would be more complex). Server availability and access to support personnel can also be a factor.

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