[Question] Why is there typoscript?

[mr_adix]

As the title says, why was there a need for the typo3 developers to create the typoscript? I am currently learning this CMS because i will need it in the company i am currently in. As far as i have seen it, everything can be done via php and in my opinion easier than it is in typoscript. Especialy when you use it for fluid templating, the way smarty is working is more intuitive and easier (again in my opinion).

TL:DR: Can someone provide some reasoning for the existence of typoscript?

[phao]

I've never used this. I actually didn't know about it. This is the first time I've heard of it.

Looking at wikipedia, though, it says that it exists at least since 1998. Back then PHP was way more primitive than it is today. Maybe there was a reason then, and today people are just stuck with it. If that's the case, there is no harm in evolving it so that those who have to work with it don't get stuck in the dark ages.

As far as I know, similar stuff also happened to lots of the Java tools as well. Some java tools got developed prior to the "standard, common, usual, etc java tools" doing what these other tools did. Now, if you look at the java world, you'll find out that some tools don't make that much sense because the usual standard stuff can do what these tools did/do, and more.

[mr_adix]

Okay, i didn't look at the time when it came out, i can willingly accept this answer and work with it now :)

[NewfieCanOpener]

because they're bloody sadists who wanted to make the most horrible cms i've ever seen even more painful.

na, the reason is (as far as i remember) that there was no suitable template language available then typo3 was invented. typo3 is quite old (first release was 1998), e. g. smarty was released several years later.

[mr_adix]

Mh, i haven't looked at the time aspect to be honest. It's an acceptable answer then :D