PHP isn’t that bad, so why the hate?

Despite the flak PHP often gets (which sometimes feels like it’s surpassed the number of <a href="https://www.google.com/search?q=cat+videos" rel="noopener ugc nofollow" target="_blank">internet cat videos</a>), it is one of the most widely used server-side scripting languages out there. Yep, you heard it right. According to <a href="https://w3techs.com/technologies/overview/programming_language" rel="noopener ugc nofollow" target="_blank">3Techs</a>, as of July 2023, PHP is used by a whopping 77.4% of all the websites whose server-side programming language we know. That’s no small potatoes! PHP’s rise can largely be credited to its easy entry point. You could have a webpage up and interacting with a database before you could say “Hello, World!”. And let’s not forget about WordPress. Can you believe it powers more than <a href="https://wordpress.org/about/features/" rel="noopener ugc nofollow" target="_blank">40% of the internet</a>? But despite these impressive stats, PHP often ends up being the butt of many a developer’s joke. Just Google “PHP hate” and you’ll find more burns than a summer BBQ. Even its creator, Rasmus Lerdorf, famously stated, “I don’t know how to stop it, there was never any intent to write a programming language […] I have absolutely no idea how to write a programming language, I just kept adding the next logical step on the way.” Now, if that’s not the most inspiring origin story, I don’t know what is. But let’s be fair, PHP isn’t all bad. In fact, it’s far from it. Just like a clumsy superhero, PHP has had its share of growing pains but it’s evolved, matured, and is ready to show you what it’s truly capable of. <a href="https://medium.com/@PurpleGreenLemon/php-isnt-that-bad-so-why-the-hate-c7b374b87ee4">Website</a>