>Hacker News really doesn't like PHP. There's a whole lot of blind prejudice in this thread
PHP apologists make this claim every time PHP is mentioned here. And yet the threads are always full of these apologists, claiming PHP is awesome because facebook uses it, or because every cheap shitty webhost has it installed. Never making any actual argument that PHP is good, or rebuttal to the numerous arguments that PHP is bad. I'm sorry, but for a site that is supposed to have an intelligent, technically literate userbase, HN has far too many head in the sand PHP supporters, not too many PHP haters.
> And yet the threads are always full of these apologists, claiming PHP is awesome because facebook uses it, or because every cheap shitty webhost has it installed. Never making any actual argument that PHP is good
That is the argument. PHP is good b/c it allows a lot of people to be productive. C is probably a better written language then Ruby, but it doesn't matter b/c if you're doing web development you're not going to be as productive in C as you will be in Ruby.
They are, a bit. There are also poorly made hammers in this analogy as well.
The big difference is you don't have people in professional carpentry forums arguing that hammers are better or just as good as nailguns and if you disagree then you are an anti-hammer elitist. But our professional is a young one in more than one way.
>That is the argument. PHP is good b/c it allows a lot of people to be productive
That isn't an argument, because every other scripting language also allows a lot of people to be productive. If A is equal to B in one respect, and far worse in dozens of other respects, pointing out the one way it is equal doesn't make an argument that A is good.
> If A is equal to B in one respect, and far worse in dozens of other respects, pointing out the one way it is equal doesn't make an argument that A is good.
I didn't state it was better then any other language. I simply made a case that it is a good language.
Did you read the words you quoted? You did not make a case that it is a good language, that is exactly what I said. PHP is not a good language because "it is equal to other languages in one respect, and vastly worse in a dozen other ways". That is the argument you put forth, but it most certainly does not make the case that PHP is a good language.
>PHP is not a good language because "it is equal to other languages in one respect, and vastly worse in a dozen other ways". That is the argument you put forth
No it isn't. I never compared it to any other language commonly used for web development. I never even hinted at that being my argument.
Is this a bad attempt at trolling? You said "PHP is good b/c it allows a lot of people to be productive". Everything else is equally good at that. Simply not pointing it out doesn't make it go away. So your argument is "PHP is equal to other languages at X", even when you word it as "PHP is good at X" while trying to ignore every other language being equally good at X.
I really have the same question for you. You keep assuming I was implying something I wasn't in my original statement. I do not know why you keep doing this. Clearly we have two different opinions on two things:
1. PHP
2. What I said.
I think we should just agree to disagree on both, because we are not getting anywhere.
EDIT: I just want to add that IMO - you can call something 'good' without comparing it to something else. It would only be a comparison if I called it 'better'.
PHP apologists make this claim every time PHP is mentioned here. And yet the threads are always full of these apologists, claiming PHP is awesome because facebook uses it, or because every cheap shitty webhost has it installed. Never making any actual argument that PHP is good, or rebuttal to the numerous arguments that PHP is bad. I'm sorry, but for a site that is supposed to have an intelligent, technically literate userbase, HN has far too many head in the sand PHP supporters, not too many PHP haters.