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Date: Sat, 14 Oct 2023 23:48:35 +0100
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Subject: =?US-ASCII?Q?Re=3A_=5BPHP-DEV=5D_Why_did_fibers_get_added_to_php_c?= =?US-ASCII?Q?ore_over_something_more_fleshed_out_like_swoole=3F?=
From: rowan.collins@gmail.com (Rowan Tommins)

On 13 October 2023 01:59:59 BST, Lanre Waju <lanre@online-presence=2Eca> wr=
ote:
> It sometimes seems as though certain choices may not
> align with the best interests of the PHP community=2E I would
> appreciate it if you could provide insights into why this
> might not be the case=2E

Leaving aside the specific examples for a moment, the basic answer to this=
 is "because we're human"=2E Even the best designers in the world do things=
 that they'd change if they could do it over, or agree to compromises that =
cost more than they initially realised=2E

In fact, we're probably more "only human" than you think=2E By that I mean=
 that from the outside, it's easy to assume there's an elite team of Langua=
ge Designers, sitting on some kind of PHP Committee; but the reality is ver=
y different=2E There's just a bunch of people who sign up to this mailing l=
ist, and chat in a few other places, and try to figure out how to make the =
language better without breaking billions of lines of existing code=2E Don'=
t get me wrong, some of the people here are amazing at what they do, but fe=
w if any do this full time or are even paid at all (head to https://thephp=
=2Efoundation/ if you want to help grow that number)=2E

That means the project is and always has been run on collaboration and com=
promise - features that someone has time to implement, architectures that m=
ultiple people are happy to work on together, solutions that move things fo=
rward without making the perfect the enemy of the good=2E

Sometimes the answer to "why doesn't X do Y?" is just "because nobody's st=
epped forward to implement it yet"; sometimes it's "nobody's worked out how=
 to do it without breaking Z"; in which case, feel free to volunteer that t=
ime, or solve that issue=2E But, yes, sometimes it's "because we had a long=
 and tiring debate, and ended up with a compromise that nobody really likes=
"; or "because the lack of official leadership and a relatively high turnov=
er of contributors makes us pretty bad at longer-term planning"=2E

As Jordan said, if you really want to have a productive discussion about a=
 feature, try to come across more positively, e=2Eg=2E "I was thinking it w=
ould be useful if the language had this feature, and was wondering if it's =
been discussed before?" Bonus points for adding "=2E=2E=2E and if there's a=
 way I can help add it?"

Regards,

--=20
Rowan Tommins
[IMSoP]