PHP is one of the languages I believe every web developer needs to know reasonably well. It's not my go-to language though and I don't much care for it. Let me explain.
My feelings on PHP are much the same as my feelings towards JavaScript - most of the code I've encountered in the wild was cobbled together by designers who knew nothing about programming and a lot about how to cut and paste scripts together. I find myself blaming the languages for the mess people left me.
But occasionally, much like JavaScript, I'll encounter some PHP code that was truly written by a master - someone who really knows how to use the language effectively, who doesn't intermix SQL, HTML, PHP, and JavaScript in the same 1000 line index.php page. Well-constructed code, designed with purpose.
I suppose that's the same with any language, isn't it?
PHP, like JavaScript, is everywhere, and if you solve other people's problems for a living, I think you need to know it reasonably well. At least well enough not to make it worse than the last developer.
Amen. I started my development career with PHP, and the cacophony of intermingled responsibilities and languages in most PHP scripts is deafening. It wasn't until I learned how to apply good OO design to PHP that I enjoyed using it.
That being said, I still don't work with PHP unless I have to. I still don't like its mixed naming scheme for string/array functions or its clunky hash/array syntax.
At least the object support is reasonable.
Used to know it just enough to 'deal with it' when there was something that needed to be fixed. Recently I started working for a place that has a few large PHP sites and projects and really dove in. Overall, I'd agree that when you see great PHP it can be nice and impressive. I don't think I'd want to do it 9 hours a day though.
My feelings on PHP are much the same as my feelings towards JavaScript - most of the code I've encountered in the wild was cobbled together by designers who knew nothing about programming and a lot about how to cut and paste scripts together. I find myself blaming the languages for the mess people left me.
But occasionally, much like JavaScript, I'll encounter some PHP code that was truly written by a master - someone who really knows how to use the language effectively, who doesn't intermix SQL, HTML, PHP, and JavaScript in the same 1000 line index.php page. Well-constructed code, designed with purpose.
I suppose that's the same with any language, isn't it?
PHP, like JavaScript, is everywhere, and if you solve other people's problems for a living, I think you need to know it reasonably well. At least well enough not to make it worse than the last developer.