Quite often, we see memes and posts about developers mocking PHP. They usually despise PHP and shy away from listing it in their resumes. PHP is one of the earliest web languages, so why do developers hate it?
This article discusses different reasons to answer the question: Why does PHP have a bad reputation in 2022.
Flat Learning Curve
A flat learning curve and a low entry barrier have been a curse for PHP. Anyone can get started with PHP in no time, and that’s why many inexperienced novice programmers have been pushing bad code. These starters are usually unaware of the best practices and clean code, and that’s why they keep pushing messy code all over the internet.
We can’t totally blame PHP here, but that’s how perceptions are made. Experienced developers are often pissed off when they see a recurring pattern of bad code in a specific language and that’s why developers hate PHP.
Haunting History
PHP was never meant to be a programming language. In 1994, Rasmus Lerdorf developed tools for adding interactivity to his personal homepage. The tool was similar to markup, embedded with HTML. However, its scope widened with time, and it matured into a programming language while all the inconsistencies remained still.
Inconsistencies
PHP inherently has inconsistency and bad design because it was never meant to be a programming language. Although efforts have been made to improve it, the bad image has been so dominant throughout the years that developers are still reluctant about PHP. It is also quite forgiving, paying no heed to data types, naming conventions, and things that modern programming languages would take more seriously.
Another reason for inconsistencies is the novice and inexperienced programmers pushing bad code, paying no attention to best practices, standards, and design patterns. The outcome is an inconsistent codebase and a dreadful design.
Security Concerns
PHP is open-source and easily accessible, and it is undoubtedly an exemplary aspect, but there’s a downside to it. Any vulnerability is easily seen and discovered publicly, thereby posing a threat to all the projects. However, isn’t that an inherent problem of open-source projects?
Some people blame PHP’s sloppy syntax and flat learning curve for the security loopholes. As mentioned already, many novice and staters push code that’s open to security threats, and that’s why PHP has a bad reputation even in 2022.
Hating PHP is Cool
To be honest, everyone these days want to sound cool and trendy, and developers are no different. Some developers who have never used PHP hate it just because it sounds edgy in the developers’ circle. There are memes about PHP, and developers usually shy away from even mentioning PHP.
Is PHP Dead in 2022?
So, is PHP dead? Well, that won’t be the right thing to say at this moment when 78% of websites use PHP. Many e-commerce platforms like WordPress, Drupal, and Magento are the reasons why PHP is still relevant. Besides, emerging technologies like Node.js and Django are in the developers’ community’s limelight, creating a perception that PHP is not relevant anymore.
So, is PHP dead in 2022? Is it not relevant anymore? We guess the answer is in the negative, and there are reasons why PHP is relevant in 2022. Let’s see what those reasons are.
Is PHP Relevant in 2022?
We have seen much in favor of why does PHP have a bad reputation. So, let’s now look at the brighter side of the argument and understand why PHP is still relevant in 2022.
Improvements in PHP 7 & 8
As discussed already, PHP had inherent design flaws, but much of that has been changed. The newer version of PHP has made significant improvements in design and performance. At the core of these improvements is the new engine Zend II. With the inclusion of Zend II, the performance of PHP has been drastically improved.
The article Python vs. PHP shares the benchmarks, and to your surprise, PHP ties with Python in performance. These conclusions are mind-boggling, and it shuns many concerns about PHP. Besides, PHP now includes constructs like the spaceship and coalesce operators, anonymous functions, and namespaces, all of which contribute to clean coding.
Frameworks
Frameworks like Laravel, Codeigniter, and Symphony have also been a factor in keeping PHP relevant with modern web development standards. It has been estimated that Laravel has been used in almost 6,40,000+ websites. It also addresses PHP’s most fatal and frequently occurring security threats like SQL injection.
Besides, these frameworks allow for clean coding, assist developers with their up-to-date documentation, and have an active developer community around the globe. We also have an npm like package manager Packalyst to help you download various packages for your applications.
Cost-Efficient
As we already know that PHP is open source and absolutely free to use. Besides, the frameworks make development much faster and thus cost-efficient. PHP 7 & 8 is greatly optimized significantly reducing memory cost and runtimes. PHP applications are highly scalable allowing servers to handle greater traffic loads.
Ecommerce
With the rise of PHP-based Ecommerce platforms, the language has drawn alot of attention. WordPress, Drupal, Magento, Joomla, and WooCommerce are a few of the most popular names in the Ecommerce space. Developers have been interacting with PHP-backed CMS, plugins, and online shops to help their clients revolutionize their business through technology.
Stable & Mature
PHP has been there for a long time now undergoing major changes and updates. There are tons of PHP repositories over the internet, an active community, and well-established documentation and support. Besides, many of the flaws and inconsistencies have been resolved in the latest versions. It is now a stable programming language with various frameworks and libraries and has been thoroughly optimized to compete with the best out there.
Strong Community
Being one of the oldest languages, PHP has a huge active community, various tutorials, FAQs, guides, and articles all over the internet. This much support not only helps beginners to learn faster but also assists experienced developers. FuelingPHP also thrives to provide PHP articles and guides for all the PHP fans.
Wrap Up
This article discusses why does PHP have a bad reputation in 2022. Some of the key reasons are PHP inherent inconsistencies and perceived security flaws. Novice and inexperienced programmers start programming in PHP at the earliest, unaware of the ins and outs of development and thereby push code that doesn’t meet the standards.
So, in a nutshell, that’s why PHP has a bad reputation. Hope you’ve liked this article. Stay tuned for more at FuelingPHP.
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