Why PHP won
startuplessonslearned.blogspot.com
Why PHP won
1–10 of 61 posts
Re: Why PHP won
#2Good article. To add a few things:
1. PHP doesn't require routing. It's done for you by Apache to the PHP file at that location. Sure, you can go the way of nice frameworks like Cake and add routing for nicer URLs, but it's not required. PHP has some solution built in.
2. Deployment. The author touched on having to restart when using mod_perl, but it's more than that. In most cases, uploading files is enough. That's why it became so popular with shared hosts. Anyone with a little knowledge could do it without the host having to give them permissions to do stuff.
3. PHP was very big on re-use in the large. Basically, re-use in the large means creating a calendar app. Re-use in the small is more like creating a framework that makes it easier to create a calendar app (ala Rails/Django). So, when you're starting up, it makes it easy to show friends something really working fast. And that builds mindshare that continues on as programmers do more things.
4. Loose typing. This is probably one of the huge ones. Many languages are dynamically typed, but if you're developing in Python or Ruby, you have to cast between types. PHP says, "don't worry, I know what you mean!" I'm personally not a fan of loose typing, but I can understand why it helps PHP gain followers (esp those new at programming).
However, I kinda disagree with the author's thesis. The author argues that PHP's community backs the language so well. I'm less inclined to agree with that. During the day, I'm often working on PHP stuff and I'm constantly finding the code already written to be sub-par. Part of that is that PHP is accessible enough for those who don't understand program design to convince themselves that they're a good programmer. And so many things written in PHP might be from people who wouldn't be able to answer "what's the difference between a binary search tree and a linked list and give an example when you would use each." Not that data structures are the only thing to judge a programmer by, but you get a lot of people in the PHP world that use the guess and check method. So, the community isn't worth as much to me because I don't have such faith in their code (while I find the Python modules I look at to be of good quality).
PHP will continue to be a dominant web language because it's easy to pick up. However, I guess I'm looking for something else.
Re: Why PHP won
#3Also, PHP runs everywhere. right now. Nothing to install in most cases. That's one of the reasons it is winning the open source code base wars (SugarCRM, Wordpress, Drupal, etc. etc.).
Re: Why PHP won
#4You know, after seeing over and over how the supposedly worse ways actually worked better - perhaps it's time to re-decide what is actually good and bad in a language?
Re: Why PHP won
#5PHP is the language that got me to where I am now. In the last 2 months, I've started diving into server-side javascript and have been working with a couple of small projects that are working to bring out widely usable solution. Its really only been in the last year that I've started sniffing when I have to work in PHP. Its been my bread and butter for 4 years, but I've gotten to the point where the inconsistencies in the overall naming schema are annoying (is it "(x,y) or (y,x)" for this string method?). Deployment is super easy with PHP.
I think one thing the author missed is that Java is (unfortunately) the primary language taught to most beginning programmers in college. This fundamentally shapes their budding programmer mentalities. PHP has served a similar role as a way for a lot of people like me to get into programming that didn't do much college and are completely self-taught.
Re: Why PHP won
#6Good article. To add a few things: 1. PHP doesn't require routing. It's done for you by Apache to the PHP file at that location. Sure, you can go the way of nice frameworks like Cake and add routing for nicer URLs, but it's not required . PHP has some solution built in. 2. Deployment. The author touched on having to restart when using mod_perl, but it's more than that. In most cases, uploading files is enough. That's…
Item 2 should not really be a problem unless you are using cheap shared hosting. You should test your stuff on your workstation, not on the server. If you do not test on the server, the whole restart apache after you upload something becomes moot. Also, if you happen to change many files, what will users see in your application when half of the site uses new logic and half of it used the previous one? This is a nasty habit.
Loose typing is the cause of many, many very difficult to find bugs. Nobody should ever be exposed to that.
As for the code already written being sub-par, it comes with the low entry barrier. The easier it is, the more people who shouldn't program will program in it.
Re: Why PHP won
#7You know, after seeing over and over how the supposedly worse ways actually worked better - perhaps it's time to re-decide what is actually good and bad in a language?
The ecosystem a piece of software is attached to is tremendously important. PHP did a great job with fitting into the existing one. It's not that PHP is better. It did a better job in the most critical ways. (It was also decently fast.)
Re: Why PHP won
#8You know, after seeing over and over how the supposedly worse ways actually worked better - perhaps it's time to re-decide what is actually good and bad in a language?
the argument against this is usually performance and code maintenance. writing something in a strict but clearly articulated language means there's a better chance the next person looking at the code will be able to figure it out. that said, php in many ways better reflects the opportunists in us all and is more familiar because of it. by using a hodgepodge of conventions all abstracted away from their parent languages into the same compiler, php lets us pick from a much wider palette of metaphors when we're conceptualizing how we approach solving a problem. which can be pretty damn useful for those of us who don't know all the answers. it feels as though it's designed for us (messy) humans.
Re: Why PHP won
#9This article is totally barking up the wrong tree. PHP's growth had little to do with its appeal to programmers, and lots to do with its appeal to shared hosting providers. Safe mode is what I'm talking about.
Re: Why PHP won
#10"The platforms that win on the web are those that mirror its fundamental structure, not those that try to morph it into a more traditional "elegant" shape."
This reminds me of why C succeeded, because it mirrors Unix so well, that C and Unix succeeded hand in hand. So this part about PHP mirroring the shape of the web made the most sense to me, as someone who doesn't know any PHP.