PHP should REALLY focus on getting the core stuff in shape.
Its still so annoying that you have to use mb_real_uppercase($name) for unicode. The other gripe is that the stdlib is SO messy. With PHP 5.3 they had a once in a lifetime opportunity to cleanup the stdlib and introduce a new namespaced API for builtins, and optionally introduce a uniform function call syntax:
"foo"->strtoupper();
Whenever doing PHP the time for concurrency will come sooner or later. Having no way of doing ANY concurrency is a letdown. The Fiber API does nothing on its own, and you are forced to use some third party runtime, that is usually a non-starter for legacy projects.
PHP has come a long way from the PHP 4.0 era, but is still lacking in multiple areas, and i dont see it being a pick for greenfield projects in 2025.
As for concurrency/async, it's possible to do requests in parallel with curl_multi_*. Other async/prallel things are also possible, but tend to be more complicated compared to JS or other languages with promise and async support.
Just looked at Laravel, and it feels like its trying its hardest to lipstick the PHP warts. When i look at a framework like it i see just bloat. You really only need like 5-10% of stuff thats there. Thats why its most likely slow and heavy, and looks like it was cowboy copied from some legacy .NET enterprisey framework from the early 2010s.
Jobs? Sure. There are PHP jobs, and the PHP devs are a dime a dozen. But i will agree with you, Laravel is a fine pick for websites, but not so much for more real world, high load applications.
Theres also 100x more jobs for WordPress than Laravel, so if you want to do PHP, i suggest going the WordPress route instead.
That’s a strange thing to say. If I wasn’t self employed, I’d pick the job that pays more (Laravel) instead of the job that (according to you) is 100x more available.
And who really cares about bloat anyway? Hardware is super cheap nowadays. People are expensive. So why not use a framework that enables you to be (in your terms) 100x more productive?
On top of that, you’re arguing about languages and frameworks you’re not even familiar with. Why does your opinion matter at all?
Its still so annoying that you have to use mb_real_uppercase($name) for unicode. The other gripe is that the stdlib is SO messy. With PHP 5.3 they had a once in a lifetime opportunity to cleanup the stdlib and introduce a new namespaced API for builtins, and optionally introduce a uniform function call syntax:
Whenever doing PHP the time for concurrency will come sooner or later. Having no way of doing ANY concurrency is a letdown. The Fiber API does nothing on its own, and you are forced to use some third party runtime, that is usually a non-starter for legacy projects.PHP has come a long way from the PHP 4.0 era, but is still lacking in multiple areas, and i dont see it being a pick for greenfield projects in 2025.