

How PHP ruined my life as a software developer - pouzy
http://www.oneurl.me/2013/02/how-php-ruined-life-software-developer/

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Pengwin
I mostly agree with the article, but my opinion of PHP is that it is a
language that allows you to write bad code, but you can write good code in it.
With regards to the example:

    
    
      $ php -a
      Interactive shell
    
      php > echo "I'm your father" + Luke + 2 + $nothingtosee;
      PHP Notice:  Use of undefined constant Luke - assumed 'Luke' in php shell code on line 1
      PHP Notice:  Undefined variable: nothingtosee in php shell code on line 1
      2
    

So the output is true, but you are given error notices. Back when I started
PHP I thought nothing of notices (I also had no way of seeing them as it was
all uploaded to a shared hosting environment and error_reporting was set to
hide them). After years of programming websites and maintain code of people
who were in my position before me i started to realize what got you in to
trouble later on. I ensure that numbers are numbers, and not strings, and
assume that all unknown type variables are strings.

PHP as a language also does not expose you to anything low level, but that is
what scripting languages should do. They are not for the Applications that
work all day, they should execute, give you the result, and be gone.

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rosenjon
Another way to look at this is that PHP enabled you to build a website with
100,000 users with little to no programming knowledge. I doubt it would have
been possible to hack on the same forum if it was built in C and needed to be
compiled to run.

These debates come up all the time here. PHP is a really good introduction to
programming, and for people who aren't programming just for programming's sake
(i.e. want to build something), it provides the easiest entry point to do that
without a formal CS background. It provides a shallow end for self-taught
programmers.

As for it spoiling your future programming efforts, I don't see why that
should be the case. It doesn't prevent you from learning strong typing, strict
OO, pointers, etc. That just takes the intellectual curiosity to go beyond
your comfort zone.

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lutusp
It sounds like PHP is to the teens what BASIC was to the 1960s.

From BASIC Considered Harmful, by Edsger Dijkstra:

"It is practically impossible to teach good programming to students that have
had a prior exposure to BASIC: as potential programmers they are mentally
mutilated beyond hope of regeneration."

This isn't meant to disparage the author of the linked article, who I suspect
will recover from PHP -- in due time.

~~~
pouzy
I have been moving towards new horizons for quite a while now, which made me
realize where my issues came from. So yes, there is hope ! :)

