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Subject: Re: [PHP-DEV] Re: [VOTE]Call for voting: support use list in foreach
From: rasmus@lerdorf.com (Rasmus Lerdorf)

On 08/26/2012 06:34 PM, Kris Craig wrote:
> 
> 
> On Sun, Aug 26, 2012 at 6:22 PM, Rasmus Lerdorf <rasmus@lerdorf.com
> <mailto:rasmus@lerdorf.com>> wrote:
> 
>     On 08/26/2012 06:18 PM, Kris Craig wrote:
>     > Short of killing ourselves rewriting it in C++, I'm not sure there
>     > is an ideal solution to this problem.
> 
>     Because you think more people can grok C++ than C? That's not my
>     experience. C is essentially a subset of C++. Any strong C++ developer
>     (I think I have only ever met 2 of those) will know C inside out.
> 
> 
> I agree.  But keyword there is "strong" lol.  In terms of volume, I've
> noticed there are far more C++ and C# developers out there who don't
> know a lick of C.  Makes sense if you think about it, as both are
> designed to make the job easier, which in turn also reduces the learning
> curve.  When I browse through local college offerings in programming,
> it's not uncommon for me to see C++ emphasized with no mention of C.
>  I've always likened it to learning to drive on an automatic
> transmission, whereas learning in C is like learning to drive a stick.
>  It's harder and most people don't do it anymore, even though it's far
> more beneficial in the long-run.
> 
> I guess the premise I was alluding to was that, if PHP was written in
> C++, there would be a much larger /quantity/ of developers with a
> compatible skillset.  You're right in that most of them would almost
> certainly be lacking in quality, but it would theoretically increase
> participation nonetheless IMNSHO.  ;)

That doesn't make any sense because they still wouldn't be able to
understand the code. If you can't read a PHP written in C you definitely
won't be able to read a PHP written in C++. And it would still be a yacc
grammar or perhaps antlr and if you don't know the difference between a
LALR and an LL grammar which language these tools spit out isn't going
to make any difference at all. There are way more complicated concepts
involved here than the implementation language.

-Rasmus