One of the first tasks Quentin does before ever sitting down to write a single word in a new script is finding the exact

Every month I read an article, or a comment or tweet stating that PHP is dying and we should stop using it. If you see a question on some or other forum or on Stack Overflow about learning PHP, there is an almost 100% chance that there’s a response from someone saying something like: “why would you want to learn PHP? Learn something cool like ”.

J.K. Rowling, the famous author behind the Harry Potter series, finds music “too distracting” while writing. When younger, she used to listen to Tchaikovksy when writing the first book.

I’ve been writing this for a while now. Tweaking here and there, but just couldn’t decide when to publish. With the recent release of PHP 8, “now” felt like the right time.

I’ve spent plenty of hours learning other languages when I was almost convinced by the occasional well written anti-PHP piece. And I’ll admit that those adventures yielded great results. Although I’ll likely never use many of them professionally, I learnt so much about being a programmer just by learning another language.

But friends will be friends, as the song goes, and it’s always good to know you can have someone to lean on. So cherish your friendships, nourish them, ask little, and give generously. One day you’ll look back and see all the lives you’ve touched, and your life will be enriched with meaningful connections.

Many authors like to work in cafes. These places sometimes play music, but many of them are full of distant chatter, the smell of roast coffee, and the occasional ring of a cashier’s till.

Choice of language also has a lot to do with what you know. As the old adage goes: time is money, and in most cases, taking on a new language for a project is a big undertaking that would put more strain on timeframes which are usually already tight. I know PHP fairly well so it’s often going to be my first choice. I know a little Python, but I’m way better with PHP. I could probably do the same things in Python, but it’s going to take me twice as long, (at least in the beginning). It doesn’t mean I won’t use Python at all, or that I have anything against Python, it just means that PHP is my go-to.

But friends will be friends, as the song goes, and it’s always good to know you can have someone to lean on. So cherish your friendships, nourish them, ask little, and give generously. One day you’ll look back and see all the lives you’ve touched, and your life will be enriched with meaningful connections.

Multitasking slows down our ability to process creativity. Listening to music while trying to come up with characters, flows, and obscure connections, has our brains jumping to do too many things at once.

PHP is not WordPress. And, although WordPress is firmly cemented into PHP’s history book, PHP is better than WordPress – MUCH better. There’s a lot wrong with WordPress and there’s a lot wrong with PHP, but that doesn’t mean its a bad choice for every project. I probably wouldn’t be writing my web applications in C (or at least it would be WAY down the list of languages for those projects), but that doesn’t make C a bad language. It’s just not suited for that job in the same way that I wouldn’t be using PHP to write hardware drivers or anything to do with AI. it’s just way outside of its wheelhouse.

One of the first things that many PHP programmers will bring up when trying to defend their choices, is one of those graphs showing how popular PHP is around the web. Although those numbers are very interesting I have a tendency to believe that they’re a bit misleading. It would be a mistake to ignore the fact that PHP is popular because of the likes of WordPress. Love it or hate it, WordPress is the reason we’re all here. But WordPress is… well… WordPress. It has many (and I mean many) faults, but I know (and am friends with) plenty of people who make a great deal of amazing things – And plenty of money – using WordPress.

I have spent close on 20 years writing stuff in PHP (actually, it might be more. I don’t truly remember when I started), among other languages, and, for the most part, I have simply ignored much of that side of the conversation. For almost all of those years, PHP has been “dying” and I should’ve stop using it years ago. I am by no means an expert in any of the languages I use, and I have plenty to learn about PHP, yet time and time again, I find myself coming back to it.

It isn’t. PHP is not dead. It isn’t dying and it isn’t reaching “end-of-life”. That’s it. No matter how much some people want it to go away, it isn’t going away. At least, not for a long time.

http://molos.bodasturias.com/jph/video-brynas-v-oskarshamn-v-sw-sw-1jcm-8.php

http://startup.munich.es/mlt/Video-graz-99ers-v-ec-vsv-v-at-at-1iad-3.php

http://team.vidrio.org/myp/v-ideos-Vienna-Capitals-EHC-Black-Wings-Linz-v-en-gb-mcb-.php

http://molos.bodasturias.com/jph/video-brynas-v-oskarshamn-v-sw-sw-1iqh-18.php

http://old.cocir.org/media/cdz/v-ideos-toros-del-este-v-aguilas-cibaenas-v-es-es-1xsi-20.php

http://team.vidrio.org/myp/videos-Vienna-Capitals-EHC-Black-Wings-Linz-v-en-gb-dnl30122020-.php

http://team.vidrio.org/myp/Video-Vienna-Capitals-EHC-Black-Wings-Linz-v-en-gb-bsf-.php

http://molos.bodasturias.com/jph/video-brynas-v-oskarshamn-v-sw-sw-1wqa-9.php

http://old.cocir.org/media/cdz/videos-toros-del-este-v-aguilas-cibaenas-v-es-es-1rqx-8.php

http://molos.bodasturias.com/jph/v-ideos-brynas-v-oskarshamn-v-sw-sw-1prs-27.php

is, we’ve never been taught good systems to plan our lives and schedules. After many years of experimentation with tools like Google Calendar, Trello, Airtable, and Notion, I’ve come up with a system that works. I’ve been using it for two years now and I’ve shared it with others who also had success with it.

If there’s one thing you take from this post, it should be: “learn another language”, but not because “php is dying” – It’s just not true. You should learn another language because it’s good for you as a programmer. If PHP really was dying, then sure, you’d have a reason to move on, but right now, in this moment, it isn’t dying.