Why PHP is Hated by Developers (But Still Used by Millions) 🤬

PHP is one of the most popular programming languages in the world. It’s used by millions of websites and applications, including Facebook, Wikipedia, and Slack. But despite its popularity, PHP has a reputation for being a “bad” language. Many developers hate PHP, and there are a number of reasons for this.

Here are 10 reasons why most developers don’t like PHP:

1. Security vulnerabilities: PHP has a long history of security problems. In 2017, a major security vulnerability in PHP was exploited by hackers to take down over 1 million websites. PHP is still considered to be one of the most insecure programming languages.
2. Poor performance: PHP code is often slow and inefficient. This can lead to performance problems for websites and applications. This is especially true when PHP is used to process large amounts of data or to handle complex queries.
3. Scalability: PHP is not very scalable. As a language, it’s not designed to handle large numbers of concurrent users or to process large amounts of data. This can lead to performance problems and scalability issues for websites and applications that use PHP.
4. Syntax: PHP syntax is often considered to be ugly and difficult to read. This can make it difficult to maintain and debug PHP code.
5. Ecosystem: The PHP ecosystem is also not as mature as the ecosystems of other programming languages. There are fewer libraries and frameworks available for PHP, and the quality of these libraries and frameworks is often not as good as those available for other languages.
6. Community: The PHP community is often considered to be toxic and hostile. This can make it difficult for new developers to learn PHP and get help with their PHP projects.
7. Legacy code: There is a lot of legacy PHP code out there that is poorly written and insecure. This can make it difficult to maintain and update these applications.
8. Lack of innovation: PHP has not seen much innovation in recent years. Other languages, such as Python, Node.js, and Go, have been making significant improvements, while PHP has been stagnant.
9. Not future-proof: PHP is not well-suited for the latest web technologies, such as serverless computing and microservices. This could make it difficult to maintain PHP applications in the future.
10. Not a good fit for beginners: PHP is not a good language for beginners to learn. It’s complex and difficult to master, and it has a lot of quirks that can be frustrating for new developers.

Despite its flaws, PHP is still a popular programming language. It’s easy to learn and use, and it has a large community of developers. However, if you’re looking for a secure, performant, scalable, and easy-to-use programming language, PHP is not the best choice. There are many other languages that are better suited for these tasks.

Alternatives to PHP:

There are many alternatives to PHP that are better suited for modern web development. Here are a few of the most popular:

• Python: Python is a general-purpose programming language that is known for its simplicity and readability. It’s also very secure and scalable.
• Node.js: Node.js is a JavaScript runtime environment that can be used to create web applications and servers. It’s very fast and scalable, and it has a large ecosystem of libraries and frameworks.
• Go: Go is a newer programming language that is gaining popularity for its speed, simplicity, and scalability. It’s also very secure.
• Ruby on Rails: Ruby on Rails is a web framework that is known for its speed, simplicity, and scalability. It’s also very secure.
• Django: Django is another popular web framework that is known for its speed, simplicity, and scalability. It’s also very secure.

I hope this blog has given you a better understanding of why some developers don’t like PHP. If you’re looking for a secure, performant, scalable, and easy-to-use programming language, I recommend choosing one of the alternatives I’ve mentioned.

Disclaimer:

This blog is just my opinion.