2007/2/22, Russ Brown <pickscrape@gmail.com>:
> Ron Johnson wrote:
> > -----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE-----
> > Hash: SHA1
> >
> > My definition is, "toy used/trumpeted by pseudo-professionals as a
> > professional tool, when it just doesn't measure up".
> >
>
> /me Tries really hard to resist responding
>
> /me Fails
>
> I'm sorry, but having just been described as a 'pseudo-professional' I
> simply have to defend myself, and my colleagues.
>
> I don't want to start a language war here, and this is the last post
> that I will make on this subject, but it's perfectly possible to
> criticise pretty much any programming language out there with a whole
> raft of reasons as to why it's not a good language to use
> professionally. Take perl for example. I have still yet to see readable
> Perl code. Unless you're very careful C lets you write code that leaks
> or overwrites memory left right and centre with all kinds of security
> flaws possible as a result. I could go on with other languages but I
> think you get my point.
>
> There is however a point in saying that while PHP does have its numerous
> inconsistencies and oddities, it is *perfectly* possible to write good
> quality, well performing, maintainable, clean and well designed code in
> PHP. Without blowing my own trumpet, I and my colleagues do it every
> day, and we work very hard at it too. Oh yes, we've seen plenty of bad
> code, but that's the skill of a good developer (to spot the bad code)
> and the challenge of a professional one (taking the care to deal with
> the bad code rather than just leaving it be). You just have to be more
> careful in PHP not to fall into the traps (that a good developer knows
> about), which is exactly like a C developer knowing how not to introduce
> buffer overruns etc.
I think you made a very good point and I want to second it.
Although I have been a Python enthusiast for some years and today I do
all new developments with Python, I have written somethings with PHP
(and ASP) which were very succesfull.
Indeed when I have to install sofware I look at the final product not
at the language in which it was written. As an example I have
installed Mediawiki (php) in instead of Moinmoin (python) because
Mediawiki is years ahead of Moinmoin.
Regards,
--
Clodoaldo Pinto Neto
