It’s limited in scope, reinforces bad practices, its generally a poorly designed language. PHP had a good run but its the past (you need to be in/with the future). Laravel has however given PHP some shine but thats it. However it all depends on what you need to do, a lot of web development is still done in PHP and most popular CMS’es are in PHP. Locally there’s alot of PHP work both legacy, new/greenfield. If you are starting out or want to compete globally then a good option would be:
Have a very good understanding of JavaScript. Then branch to Node.js. Pick a Javacsript framework probably React and Vue.
Learn Python programming. Python has the advantage of being general purpose and you can branch into various fields. Python is one of the main languages in IOT, AI, Machine learning and data analysis all of which are currently experiencing growth and are the future. Already there’s alot of demand of data analysts locally yet the demand cannot be met. Under Python learn Flask and Django which will be easy once you have the fundamentals of Python in your belt.
After Python you can pick another language like Go.
If you are interested in mobile development, learn Kotlin or Dart and Flutter [Java is on the decline, like PHP it has had its run] (i’d prefer Dart/Flutter due to the ease of learning and excellent tooling and developer experience.) Dart and Flutter seems to be the future considering it will run on Fuchsia and will also support web and desktop in future.
Note on local opporutnities: Locally there’s a lot of PHP & Vb.net systems. If you are looking to shine in the local IT industry then Vb.Net. C# and PHP is the way to go.
Good info. I would agree with most of the things you say but to be honest I lack the knowledge to do so; save for JavaScript where I sorta agree. Lately, I have come across a lot of JavaScript projects needing Vue competence.
Yep, thanks to Node (maybe) and frontend frameworks, JS is now the sexy language and gets most of the hype. That hardly means that other languages are now resigned to the past. I mean, look at Java – Java had its run millions of years ago but it’s still running.
Now.
This I disagree with. Yeah, PHP allows you to get away with too much, and incidentally, has one of, if not the lowest barrier to entry. As a consequence, this leads to it having many hobbyists/learners who are just starting out making many mistakes… but it DOES NOT ‘reinforce’ bad practices. Anyone who says that never used PHP (higher than PHP4).
At some point when someone gets the syntax and basic principles down it’s on them to learn how to better design their code/applications. It is up to the PHP learner to know resources such as https://www.php-fig.org/ . If they choose not to bother then you can’t trash the languag… just because it’s seemingly the cool thing to do, or your current language choice is statically typed, or a new language sits on the annual musical chairs of sexiest language of the year, etc.
Lastly, I believe that if anyone wants to learn coding they need to figure out what they want to do with their knowledge. If they know that they can literally pick any language that helps them accomplish their goal. Learning a language because it’s popular, IMO is not the best idea. Once someone has learnt programming to e.g. intermediate level they can, with relative ease, switch to a language that suits their current task.
Seems you didnt understand what the original question was? Perhaps go back and find out what the original poster was asking about. You say you disagree yet say that PHP “allows you to get away with too much”. You are wrapping yourself in a knot. Is this not how bad practices are reinforced? If somebody is looking to get into programming we must tell them the truth and the truth is that PHP is not the way to get into modern programming. Top CS and programing programs around the world have replaced PHP and Java as the introductory language. Why is that?
I have mission critical production code in PHP, Ruby, C#, Python, Elixir and Nim and i can tell you PHP is a shitty language. Anybody building websites is full of praise for PHP but any real programmer will tell you PHP is only good for reading tables from a database and outputting the content on a browser, nothing else. Let us give the right advice to those looking to get into programming.
I was just making a side comment about PHP. From the quote above you seem to have strong opinion about PHP and I will neither try to change your mind nor explain that PHP is more than just a database reader. If your multilingual setup accomplishes your task then good for you – you picked the right tools for the right job.
You slightly missed my point but I am quite exhausted to explain myself; that and the condescending/elitist comment about any ‘real’ programmer.
There is nothing like the best language just because one has beautiful syntax. Languages are just tools. What matters is if the end product works as intended. Php works fine for Facebook while django, node, ror etc work fine for others. Java will work fine for some while kotline, dart, react native will do so for others. Linus Torvalds hate C++ and wrote his monolithic linux kernel in C while Google wrote zircon micro kernel of Fuchsia OS in C++. What matters is if the end product works fine, the language is just a tool
You are contradicting yourself yet are not even aware of it. You share data from Tiobe and Github that shows popular languages (the best languages) yet go ahead in the same train of thought to indicate that “there is nothing like the best language”. I understand it may be 8-4-4 manenos but clearly this is laughable.
The thing with this languages is the same shit packaged with a different name , as history has taught us no human will settle for one(creativity/intelligence /whatever you may call it / need some form of expression) Look at the cars,Electronics,Cloth, Religion and Among others
The problem I have is this “scientist” will reinvent the same shit just to print hello world to the screen look at the current state of JavaScript framework after framework just like a Linux distro update.
I guess humans are wired to always seek more without satisfaction.
They /he/she/it say(s) in the religion text humans were forked from the master repo in there image they were created.
Let me take you back. The original question was about somebody new to programming and looking to get into the industry. My argument which is informed by years of solid experience both in 254 and abroad was that PHP is not the way to get into programming in 2019. PHP is still relevant, it powers almost 60% (?) of the web (WP etc), it’s seen a resurgence due to PHP 7, Laravel etc. It continues to be “popular” due to the many legacy projects in the wild, same as Java. I and my team personally manage many projects locally that still run on PHP and VB6 (yes some institutions have refused to ditch VB6 and Win XP). All that is irrelevant, any young man looking to get into programming today has better options. Unless you have real, mission critical enterprise projects in the wild with real users you cannot understand the limitations and design flaws of PHP other than the theoretical babbles you may have picked from blogs. e.g A common theoretical bubble is that Facebook runs on PHP, a half truth that demonstrates acute lack of knowledge on FB’s platform(core system does not use PHP, C++ compiler, HHVM etc etc.) which is tragic because this is stuff that you can Google or discern from FB’s activities on GitHub and open source communities.
Already we have a serious lack of skills in the local IT industry because everybody seems to be doing PHP and Joomla (and calling themselves programmers) yet we have emerging needs that require different technologies. We are deploying an IoT system for a poultry farm in Kiambu, we are building machine learning systems to detect fraud in some small financial institution, we have a brief to deploy a number plate recognition system in a housing project. These are jobs that cannot be done effectively with PHP yet these are the jobs that are coming up. We’ve had to outsource some of these projects. PHP will not make you valuable and marketable going forward (any young man should be training for the future not for today), i can outsource a PHP project to a 16 year old from Pakistan on Upwork and he’ll do a good job. PHP will also not make you a good programmer. Other than Andela that i see trying to align its curiculum with emerging trends and industry standards every other coding program even in CS has PHP as the priority. The only saving grace is that a CS graduate will usualy have a few self taught languages in his belt and can pick up any language real fast. We are currently doing a mobile app in Dart/Flutter, the main dev is a CS graduate with zero Dart experience but was able to pick it up in a week. We are even seeing mobile development shifting from Java to Kotlin and SDKs like Flutter which has solid advantages over Java in some use cases.
If you are advising somebody to pick PHP as his first language in 2019 then either you have limited experience in the industry and its future or are poorly trained in programming and with no real work in production. Unless of course their goal is to be a web developer rather than a programmer (problem is in Kenya anybody who can download a Joomla template, replace the dummy content and upload on a server thinks he is a programmer). Tuambie watu ukweli.
I have never told anyone to pick it up as a first language. My first language of choice is always Python because of how easy you can understand it and programming concepts, that’s just my opinion because other people learnt in different ways and have their own. But also i have seen people like you who keep arguing on what shiny toy is better than the other: why vue is better than react or angular, why kotlin is better than java, why flutter is better than react native of cordova or xamarin etc funny what people refer to as legacy keep flourishing, most sites run on Php, Java devs are the highest paid on average.
There will always be new languages, frameworks et al but that does not make them better than those that exist. Any competent programmer can pick up on any language fast because they understand the concepts from the other languages that they already know. also you cannot claim thatone language is way too easy that you can outsource it to a 16-year-old in pakistan. You know that knowing the basics of a language is easy but becoming competent in it takes time.
There is no better language, the best language or framework/library is that which can accomplish the task
Its a fact that we have languages and frameworks that are better than others. Languages and frameworks are developed to address problems and inefficiencies with existing languages and frameworks. But i understand your shallow argument, i see it all over the place especially with CS graduates from Kenyan universities. I dont blame them, its the quality of training, otherwise a real CS graduate will not hold a placard on Uhuru highway asking for a job.
“java devs are the highest paid”? do you know why or you are just repeating what you have read on blogs?
Are you willing to share your Github profile or links to any real projects you have built, so that i know you are not a “hallo world” “programmer”? Or should i go first?
