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Date: Fri, 11 Jan 2013 09:44:23 +0000
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Subject: PHP is not ...
From: lester@lsces.co.uk (Lester Caine)

Some of you will have heard this before, but please bare with me ...

A number of years ago I needed a new infrastructure to produce 'web based' 
versions of the windows client code I've been writing since window 3.1 days. I'd 
been using C++ for many years and still have to support that code. C# and other 
esoteric 'modern' offerings were being pushed at that time. Some have taken off 
and some have proven less popular.

I started playing with PHP just before PHP5 became RC stage and was very pleased 
with what I found. An OO 'style' of working that allowed me to escape the 
straight jacket that the BCB6 object methods enforced and easy learning curve 
from what I was used to.

Since that time e_strict rules have been 'applied' and while I accept some of 
the logic of those rules, having to create multiple functions to get 'around' 
the static/object restrictions was starting to create the bloat I'd lost 
initially. Currently being able to check if an array or a simple variable has 
been passed gets around the problems I had with BCB6 needing to create separate 
function wrappers for each parameter type, so discussions on 'improving' this 
area irritate. Being able to access object variables directly was a big plus so 
all of the 'magic' to hide them again is annoying.

Debugging library code I've been using for years is becoming more and more 
difficult due to the 'extra' material that is appearing, and I have no doubt 
that adding 'annotations' into that code will further reduce productivity :( *I* 
have no control over that, it will happen simply because that seems to be the 
way people think PHP should go? 'You don't have to use them' is rolled out all 
the time, but as others have said, unless you don't use ANY third party code 
that is simply not practical!

If I'd wanted C# 10 years ago I could have used it. I found PHP was perfect but 
it's becoming a case nowadays when I seriously have to consider how I go 
forward. I have to use Python and Ruby with all of their idiosyncrasies along 
with fixing bugs in Java to keep my development tools working, so all this talk 
about 'modernising' PHP is like a sword in the side. Surely I'm not alone in 
wanting to keep PHP as the simply development platform it had always been and 
'improving' things like unicode support and performance? I keep thinking that 
'e_simple' is the way to go and disable all of the 'complicated' stuff and - yes 
- get back to the good old days ...

-- 
Lester Caine - G8HFL
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