51–60 of 77 posts
My suggestion is to not pay too much attention to those blogs and focus more on building things.
I'm sure PHP is a good language to build very good websites.
Also, the PHP source code is quite readable, for those times when the good online reference manual doesn't help.
Don't worry about it. I was in a similar position a few months ago when I, a python programmer, was offered a perl position. Eventually you just get used to it, and you might even find things you like. I've stopped being as much of a language snob. Some features and most syntax are just decorative, and you'll adjust. The whole giant namespace thing would bother me a lot, but hey its worked for other people before.
Just because you don't want to work with a language (especially PHP, dunno about Perl) doesn't make you a language snob. If you're closed off to any languages other than your preferred language, you're a language snob. That said, there's nothing wrong with programmers being picky about languages. Not only are languages what we're forced to think in day in and day out, but they affect what tools we can use, how we str…
All it has going for it is that it has low barrier to entry and is a commodity in terms of it's developer and low-end hosting. I consider these as good selling points for PHP but that is all I think it has going for it.
I think the social ecosystem of a language is very important, and I think there's more information and quality libraries in Ruby at the moment, so the popularity vote for PHP is a bit moot nowadays for web application development.
I try not to be a snob, I try to use 'the best tool for the job' but I don't think PHP is a very good tool. And I'm sorry but as someone who uses these tools all day I do not consider it a good tool.
not that I've written any python, but is PHP that much low level?
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Just because you don't want to work with a language (especially PHP, dunno about Perl) doesn't make you a language snob. If you're closed off to any languages other than your preferred language, you're a language snob. That said, there's nothing wrong with programmers being picky about languages. Not only are languages what we're forced to think in day in and day out, but they affect what tools we can use, how we str…
That is good advice, but what will PHP teach someone exactly? I don't believe it has anything interesting to offer someone who has learnt a number of languages. All it has going for it is that it has low barrier to entry and is a commodity in terms of it's developer and low-end hosting. I consider these as good selling points for PHP but that is all I think it has going for it. I think the social ecosystem of a langu…
The argument that language choice doesn't matter, it's the engineer that matters, is very valid. I'm an excellent engineer in both and produce high quality working code in both. But python is clearer, more fun, and right.
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On the contrary. Language snobs have programmed in multiple languages. That's why they can clearly recognize a flaw when they see it. If you've always used a tool with the same flaw you likely don't recognize it as a flaw and just think that that's the way it works. Or you do kinda recognize it as a flaw but don't realize how much it slows you down.
I think there's more than one kind of language snob out there. Some of them have never programmed in more than one language, and so naturally think that language is the best. Some don't regularly program in any language, and take whatever fad du jour is on Reddit as gospel. But others have programmed in lots of languages, and have tried the languages in question, and that's why they think it sucks. It can be difficul…
If `BigNameCorp` writes a lot of PHP seriously, you won't notice that many problems. It's not going to be PHP anymore. It's going to be Symfony, Zend, Cake, or something else (maybe even some proprietary, internally used framework). It isn't that easy to find pure-PHP code these days - it just takes too much time to write. If you do however see an old-style "let's just include everything", "global variables are cool"…
PHP breeds mediocrity in such a superb way, it's rivaled only by Visual Basic. It attracts many dumb people and, chances are, you will meet many of them on your new job.I won't go as far as telling you to stay clear of the job - just have that in mind when deciding.