Is PHP intentionally following Java’s path? View as Markdown

Hi internals,

I’m a developer who uses both Java and PHP regularly, and I’m writing
because I care deeply about PHP’s future.

I’ve been following the language’s evolution closely, especially since
PHP 7 and PHP 8. I’ve noticed a growing trend of adding features that
feel very "enterprise-oriented" — such as typed properties, attributes,
and property hooks. While I understand the value of these features in
certain contexts, I can’t help but wonder: is PHP intentionally
following Java’s path?

I ask this not as criticism, but out of genuine curiosity about the
language’s direction. PHP’s traditional strength has been simplicity,
pragmatism, and being web-native. Java, on the other hand, excels in
large-scale enterprise ecosystems with strong type safety and tooling.

From a developer’s perspective, when I see PHP adding more Java-like
features, it makes me question whether the goal is to compete with Java
in the enterprise space — or if these additions are meant to solve
specific problems without changing PHP’s core identity.

I’d really appreciate it if you could share some insight into how the
internals team views this balance. Is there a conscious effort to avoid
making PHP feel like "Java for the web"? Or is the thinking that these
features are simply useful tools, regardless of where they originate?

Thank you for all the hard work you put into maintaining and evolving
PHP. I’m looking forward to understanding more about where the language
is headed.

Best regards,
[haoqin]

Did you just post an almost-identical thread the other day? Because the above looks like it's largely quoting from the other post.

But to the point, PHP doesn't have a formal "direction." There is no roadmap. It's just a bunch of people throwing stuff at the wall to see what sticks. One could argue (and we frequently do) whether that's a good or bad approach, but it is the current approach.

In most cases, RFCs are designed to "scratch an itch." Sometimes that itch is larger or more abstract than others, but it's generally always "this would make the author's life easier in some way." And if it passes, it's because enough other people agree.

There is no coordinated plan to "imitate Java." But neither is there a coordinated plan to avoid Java. PHP is like English: It evolves by beating up other languages in dark alleys and going through their pockets for loose syntax. If we find an idea in C# that seems like it would work well in PHP, we steal it. If we find an idea in Kotlin, we steal it. If we find it in TypeScript, we steal it. If we find it in Ruby, we steal it. If we find it in F#, we steal it. PHP is an equal-opportunity language-feature-thief. Other ideas are indeed home-grown in PHP, like the upcoming Partial Function Application syntax, which AFAIK is unique to PHP.

People always seem to compare to Java when making this kind of comment, which I find... very odd. Java was one of the first popular OOP languages, but OOP is a lot more than just Java. And it's not even the most-featured language by a long shot at the moment. Hell, Javascript is more popular (because web). So why is it any time someone objects to adding new features, it's always "making PHP more like Java"? Why not "more like Kotlin" (which is where we borrowed the property hooks syntax from)? Or more like Swift (where the asymmetric visibility syntax came from)? Or more like OCAML (where the pipe operator came from)? Or more like Rust (which is our long-term goal for enums and ATDs)?

As I said, we're an equal opportunity language-feature-thief.

--Larry Garfield