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An Internet of PHP

timotijhof.net

11–20 of 333 posts

Re: An Internet of PHP

#12
post #7

I've always liked PHP. You wouldn't pick it for your job interview's coding test if you had a choice (Python all the way there), but it's so intertwined with the internet and what we've learned about programming over the years. First mover advantage kind of deal. And I've never had to deal with ESM/CJS/AMD whatever module nonsense with PHP. No transpiling anything, just edit and refresh. And so many useful functions…

Bad rap comes from the inconsistency of the early APIs. The ability to interleave code and HTML was also tacky and never taken seriously but I think touted highly by some as a killer feature. The language is very unplanned, go look at an equality chart for PHP, it makes JavaScript blush as well.

> The ability to interleave code and HTML was also tacky and never taken seriously

And yet people would take a bullet for React and the JSX templates.

Re: An Internet of PHP

#13
post #10

I've always liked PHP. You wouldn't pick it for your job interview's coding test if you had a choice (Python all the way there), but it's so intertwined with the internet and what we've learned about programming over the years. First mover advantage kind of deal. And I've never had to deal with ESM/CJS/AMD whatever module nonsense with PHP. No transpiling anything, just edit and refresh. And so many useful functions…

> You wouldn't pick it for your job interview's coding test if you had a choice (Python all the way there), I do actually pick it for several reasons. 1. I want to know if the environment I am going into is pragmatic about languages. If you are going to refuse to continue working with me over something so minor as PHP then we aren't a culture fit. 2. I want to showcase my best. I know this language in and out. It's t…

[deleted]

Re: An Internet of PHP

#14
post #10

I've always liked PHP. You wouldn't pick it for your job interview's coding test if you had a choice (Python all the way there), but it's so intertwined with the internet and what we've learned about programming over the years. First mover advantage kind of deal. And I've never had to deal with ESM/CJS/AMD whatever module nonsense with PHP. No transpiling anything, just edit and refresh. And so many useful functions…

> You wouldn't pick it for your job interview's coding test if you had a choice (Python all the way there), I do actually pick it for several reasons. 1. I want to know if the environment I am going into is pragmatic about languages. If you are going to refuse to continue working with me over something so minor as PHP then we aren't a culture fit. 2. I want to showcase my best. I know this language in and out. It's t…

That's a good point, I imagine doing that would screen out companies run by language snobs.

My go to for this is to say "I don't think Typescript is needed most of the time". The snobs look at you like you just farted in their face.

But having done some coding interviews where time and space complexity were a factor, I found it easier to succeed with Python.

Re: An Internet of PHP

#15
post #10

I've always liked PHP. You wouldn't pick it for your job interview's coding test if you had a choice (Python all the way there), but it's so intertwined with the internet and what we've learned about programming over the years. First mover advantage kind of deal. And I've never had to deal with ESM/CJS/AMD whatever module nonsense with PHP. No transpiling anything, just edit and refresh. And so many useful functions…

> You wouldn't pick it for your job interview's coding test if you had a choice (Python all the way there), I do actually pick it for several reasons. 1. I want to know if the environment I am going into is pragmatic about languages. If you are going to refuse to continue working with me over something so minor as PHP then we aren't a culture fit. 2. I want to showcase my best. I know this language in and out. It's t…

Your comment articulates my thoughts on PHP very succinctly. Especially the culture fit bit. PHP is so insanely pragmatic that if someone looks down on it due to false preconceived notions then they're not the kind of person I can probably work happily with anyway.

It's also the thing I'm best at!

Re: An Internet of PHP

#17
post #9

I learned how to code when I was a kid with a mixture of C++ my dad showed me on our Dell running Windows 95 and PHP that I taught myself in the years after. All through my teenage years into my early 20s, anything I wanted to make I made in PHP. I still have some PHP projects online, but recently when I want to make anything, I set up an API in Python and build the front with a JS framework. Is part of this just get…

I'm sorry but if your only reason why PHP and JS are less "clean" than Python is because they have brackets and parenthesis, you're sharing your inexperience, not your experience.

Re: An Internet of PHP

#18
post #3

I love and use php but this article feels more like propaganda.

There's a lot and hate of criticism of PHP out there, so some praise and sane opinions are nice to balance it out.

Hate almost always comes from people who haven't used PHP in a very long time or touched it briefly at some point. Fanboyism serves no purpose. Experienced developers understand that programming languages are just tools each with their own trade-offs.

Re: An Internet of PHP

#19
post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Bad rap comes from the inconsistency of the early APIs. The ability to interleave code and HTML was also tacky and never taken seriously but I think touted highly by some as a killer feature. The language is very unplanned, go look at an equality chart for PHP, it makes JavaScript blush as well.

> The ability to interleave code and HTML was also tacky and never taken seriously And yet people would take a bullet for React and the JSX templates.

Funny how "server side rendering" became a hot new thing too.

I was so confused when I heard that, "like... a HTML file?".

Keep going at this rate and we'll be using frames again.

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