Sacrificial RabbitCode. Art. Perversion. Madness.

Friday, November 10. 2006

This word... simple... I dont think it means what you think it means.

I'm becoming a bit of a PHP gadfly these days. Seeing as how I am in the middle of building a web server with scheme, it is difficult not to snipe at what some other members in the PHP community are saying about PHP, simply by virtue of seeing things from a different perspective. Now I don't really have it in for PHP (okay, maybe just a little). It is an okay language, and you can really get things done with it. However (and you knew it was coming...)
PHP has one major thing going for it - it's simple nature lets developers keep things simple, and simple is good.
--PHP Developer

PHP is not simple.

PHP's Type System is complex. Sure, dynamic typing is easy, but weak typing is weird. 5 + "10 little piggies" -> 15?

PHP's Object System is complex. It is Javas OO system grafted on top of a really basic system. Ironically, this is where PHPs type System gets so strong to be a real pain in the ass. Ever had to cast an object?

PHP configuration is complex. 3 words: php dot ini.

PHP has complex syntax.

There is also a vast volume of built in functions for php, and an even larger body of extensions. This is not bad (its very good in fact) but it hardly makes the language simple.

There are plenty of reasons to like PHP, but simplicity isn't one of them.
Posted by jonnay in Code at 12:23 | Comment (1) | Trackbacks (0)
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I suppose "low learning curve" would have been a better way to put what I meant. PHP is definitely complex - there's no doubt about that. It does, however, provide tools and functionality that do allow developers to create fast, simple scripts for the simpler tasks they need to do.

Sure, it's not the simplest language on the market (is there such a thing as a simple programming language?), but it does offer a friendly face for both the simple stuff and more complex functionality.
#1 enygma (Link) on 2006-11-13 05:26 (Reply)

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