I think it's a little unfair to not refer to his responses to these allegations in the video.
He never intended PHP to last longer than 6 months. He kept waiting for someone to make something better so he could shut it down... it just didn't happen. Also, he admits he's not a great programmer.
As a counter point doesn't every language "introduce problems" of some kind?
The video was interesting and he comes across as a very reasonable and pragmatic guy who had good reasons for designing it the way he did. But those reasons and that design resulted in a not very excellent language - as the parent post (and Rasmus himself!) said. Convenient but problematic, intended to be replaced by something better.
That said, the improvements in version 7 look impressive. I still prefer a language that's not quite as ugly though.
Again, I don't think this is his fault in this regard. I also think he's humble about his capabilities and I'm sure this long project matured his chops across the board.
But a lot of the choices were short sighted, and a devotion to backwards compatibility has limited the ability to clean up.
PHP is now a super fast, relatively mature web programming language that carries a lot of its baggage.
I'd really recommend you watch the video to understand how long term development of a hugely popular system isn't as easy as it may seem. Especially if the environment is as dynamic as the internet.
He addresses your issues about "short sighted" choices and backwards compatibility.
I had watched it and comments like yours are generally frowned upon here.
> Please don't comment on whether someone read an article. "Did you even read the article? It mentions that" can be shortened to "The article mentions that."
Sorry, I forgot about that rule. I really wasn't being critical of you not watching it. (There is no tone in writing to convey that extra meaning.)
I was trying to suggest it as a helpful way to understand Rasmus' perspective and a very complex history of development that has real logic to the choices he made that so many people have been critical of over the years. And that I think if someone heard him out would realize they would likely have made the same choices he did if they were in the same situation.
I just felt there wasn't a need for me to quote the video, but I suppose that was a little lazy of me.
He never intended PHP to last longer than 6 months. He kept waiting for someone to make something better so he could shut it down... it just didn't happen. Also, he admits he's not a great programmer.
As a counter point doesn't every language "introduce problems" of some kind?