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Zend Taking PHP In the Wrong Direction?

Posted by Zonk on from the php-it's-dynamite dept.

dvanatta writes "Is Zend taking PHP in the wrong direction? Ian Felton asks 'Why is PHP become more like Java, when the PHP developer community seems to want anything but that to happen? What is Zend thinking?'" From the article: "Data from a Zend survey completed in June 2003 (when PHP5 was still in major development) showed that the characteristics of the PHP community didn't necessarily match up with what was developed in PHP5. For example, with the ability to list three primary programming languages, only 18% of respondents named Java."

6 of 155 comments (clear)

  1. People Hate Java by mabu · · Score: 0, Troll

    People hate java 'cause it's overly verbose, but complain that languages like perl look like line noise.

    People hate Java because it's a language that was born of an advertising campaign and not a specific need in the technology field.

    People hate Java because the technology has been caught in the middle of several commercial interests and platform wars, which has crippled the promise of Java's stability and reliability.

    People hate Java because it's a lie. Java promised a new generation language that was to be cross-platform compatible, but it's actually less cross-platform compatible than C/C++.

    People hate Java because it's slow as molasses. Need an example? Take a look at Puzzle Pirates, a very clever multiplayer online game, that because the developers were foolish enough to use Java, runs ten times slower than it should and is painful to use as a result.

    People hate Java because it sucks. I'm sorry to those of you who are Java programmers and are finding less jobs, but no sane company wants to use this technology when there are other systems available that offer better performance, reliability and longevity.

    1. Re:People Hate Java by mabu · · Score: 0, Troll

      Wow...you know nothing about Java, do you? I'd be willing to bet that you've never done any significant development in Java. As others have said, there's plenty of valid critiques of Java to be made, and you've made none of them.

      I guess the level of my experience with Java would be dependent upon how you define "significant development". I've done quite a bit, but ultimately we abandoned the use of Java for large-scale, mission critical applications. Your mileage may vary... I understand some of you spent lots of good money and time in college to base your cirriculum around Java and it's painful to entertain the possibility you might as well have been studying Old English. Don't take it out on me.

      The reason why there are different computer languages is because different languages have different specialities. The problem I have with Java is that it really IMO, doesn't have any specialty. PHP, Perl, Cobol, C, C++, etc., are languages that offer specific advantages in specific areas. Java was introduced as a corporate marketing tool more than a language designed to address a specific need in any specific field of technology. Most of the reasons Java sycophants cite for Java's usefulness could just as easily be implemented via add-on libraries to other languages such as C/C++, so I see no good reason to jump on the Java bandwagon.

      You can mod my post a troll all you guys want. But it won't be my fault that Java is a dying language that will never have the longevity of its peers. Save room in your closet, next to the Amiga, for your Java manuals.

  2. Re:Popular direction != right direction by Leroy_Brown242 · · Score: 0, Troll

    Main Entry: pedantic
    Pronunciation: pi-'dan-tik
    Function: adjective
    1 : of, relating to, or being a pedant
    2 : narrowly, stodgily, and often ostentatiously learned
    3 : UNIMAGINATIVE, PEDESTRIAN

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    Pretty Pictures!
  3. Java is NOT proven superior by Tablizer · · Score: 0, Troll

    Your response implies that Java is somehow a superior language. Well, some of us disagree. Here are some talking points:

    * OOP has not been proven objectively better, and Java does not make non-OOP programming very easy.

    * Java is staticaly-typed, and some feel that dynamic typing, or even type-free, makes one more productive and the code more readable. Even many OO fans will agree that OO is not always the right paradigm for some cases.

    You might like Java personally, that is fine. But please don't imply that it is scientifically better.

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    Table-ized A.I.
  4. Re:I *like* the OO. by Tablizer · · Score: 0, Troll

    Agreed. Nobody has presented a good cost/benefit and probability-of-change analysis of "separation". It appears to be a fad. I don't see the science.

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    Table-ized A.I.
  5. Re:I *like* the OO. by Tablizer · · Score: 0, Troll

    I have a question for the moderator that labelled the above "troll". Is it because I already mentioned it elsewhere? Should I have given a link instead?

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    Table-ized A.I.