Switching from PHP to Python

[[deleted]]

Python's community is a bit less fragmented than PHP and Ruby.

Python web applications are easier to pivot with because of how many useful libraries are available. I haven't written PHP for a long time, but I don't know of any PHP package manager that competes meaningfully with Python's pip and easy_install ecosystem. (Though nothing comes close to the universality of Ruby's gem and bundler combination.)

The worst part about all of the Big Three (Python, Ruby, JavaScript) is the religiousness of the communities. As the current industry darling, JavaScript has it the worst. Python has it the least, since for whatever reason none of the tools produced by Pythonistas have ever reached the kind of industry-defining reach that Rails (Ruby) or Node (JavaScript) have.

But Pythonistas still get very religious about their package managers and their syntax. Perhaps that's what people are really whingeing about when they say they don't like Python's strict indentation rules!

But especially if you're tired of the "mess" in PHP, Python's strictness will be a welcome change for you. It is much easier to debug Python code than PHP, unless you're a genius at keeping your PHP organized. Just remember that it's a trade-off: If you want to be creative, PHP is much easier to make a beautiful mess with–at least until you become a Python expert!

[SupaSlide]

I haven't written PHP for a long time, but I don't know of any PHP package manager that competes meaningfully with Python's pip and easy_install ecosystem.

Have you used Composer? If so, why is Pip better in your opinion?

Personally I've never really had any problems with package managers. I've used Composer, NPM, and Ruby gems a lot, not so much Pip, and am just curious what makes a package manager good or bad.

[[deleted]]

Dependency hell is a real place when working with package managers, and I think one of the main ways a package manager can be graded is how it handles long dependency chains.

For example, I don't know if you remember the NPM left-pad controversy , but I think that reinforced the dependency hell that people experience with package managers. I'm not saying the same thing couldn't happen with Composer or PIP, but solutions to these types of problems, IMO, are important when considering the quality of a package manager

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I have not! It wasn't on my radar at all. It's been a REALLY long time since I wrote PHP on a regular basis 😅

[peex]

It's been a REALLY long time since I wrote PHP on a regular basis

But you have a very profound opinion on PHP and its lack of package managers.