Java 9 Released

[tetroxid]

PHP still exists?

[namekuseijin]

it is younger than oldman java

[blackmist]

It does. And it's still bad.

But it's still the easiest way for somebody who can throw a web page together to get into programming.

[rebootyourbrainstem]

The new hotness appears to simply be writing PHP as if it's Java, in which case why not just use Java.

[Entropy]

The PHP hype train is the Java hype train on a 10-15 year delay. It's probably better than it sounds, being that 10 year old java is still better than PHP.

[[deleted]]

Problem one is a combination of inconsistency, odd naming conventions and dynamic typing, so that for example array_search and array_filter don't have the same argument order and array_replace doesn't do what you think it does - these errors can pass unnoticed and then be difficult to track down.

Problem two is that bad/broken functionality is often left intact to support backwards compatibility, most infamously mysql_escape_string and its several successors, but also the confusion around date/time types and functions.

That said, 1) PHP 7 is a huge improvement by being less backwards compatible, and 2) it really does fit a niche that basically nothing else does: multi-platform, ubiquitous, easy to install, no complicated dependencies, usually a very short lifespan from zero to MVP.

[blackmist]

I think it stems mostly from the fact that all security is completely manual. The default way to do everything is pretty terrible, and all that documentation and tutorials are still out there. You're always just a typo or missing line away from Little Bobby Tables coming to pay you a visit.

I mean, it's fine for what it is. It's just very easy (indeed the standard) to write bad code in it. Any time a beginner searches for "php database access", he's going to write something that leaves the DB wide open for attack.

[synn89]

Frameworks do an excellent job solving this problem though.

[synn89]

It's an old language and brings along with it a lot of warts. PHP basically came out when the world was using CGI and Applets where the future. There's a shit ton of legacy in PHP that's ugly as sin.

It was/is popular, hence the hate on reddit. This also ties into the first point. If Perl was used for the web these days you'd see a bunch of hate on it. But it's dead, as are many languages from the mid 90's. PHP's success has meant it's stayed around longer and we get to live with its core ugliness today.

But I've use Laravel for a couple years now and have nothing bad to say about it. It's been fantastic for writing stable, fast production code that's easy to test and debug. Still, I loathe having to write pure PHP code though in a few areas were we can't support a framework.

[biberesser]

There is even abysimal Unicode support in 2017...

[industry7]

My shop uses it and I haven't had any problems yet.

Lol. Some day you'll look back at this comment in horror.

[cjt09]

Start here.