php vs python

[Patrick Mullen]

Yeah I would agree that a decent (a few steps below good in my book)
programmer should be able to have a decent handle on a new language, given
some acclimatization time of course.  The amount of time this period lasts
varies on the language said programmer is learning, as well as the languages
he knows.  If they are far different (say going from object oriented to
functional) it will take longer to learn.  But it's not to say that after
learning it, his code will be bad.  Maybe not as good as experts, but not
bad.

But I would say the jump from "not bad" code to "good" code; or the jump
from "good" code to "great" code are huge leaps.  And in a badly designed
language, it could be argued that even the best code is lacking.  To say
that language doesn't matter at all is extremely silly, otherwise we
wouldn't have 5 million languages.  Most languages are created, not just for
the fun of it, but to solve something lacking in what is available
elsewhere.  (OK, there are a lot of languages people have created just
because they are geeks, but most languages that people actually use are
purposeful).  Python was created to have something easier than perl and more
powerful than bash to write shell scripts with and automate system
administration tasks.  PHP was created to enhance html with a powerful
integrated server language that was easier than c but not alien to it.  It
was a replacement for cgi.

For me, php is far too flat, making it pretty tough to navigate and get a
handle on.  If you know what you want to do, it probably has something to
fit that task, but for exploring it's not fun.  I rather enjoy python, where
I can play around at the interpreter and try new things.  PHP also is not
very strict when it comes to types, even less strict than python, and in my
newbieness that has caused me loads of problems.  But I know people who
swear by PHP, and I admit it has been used for many great sites, so it can't
be that bad.

Still, outside of the web sphere, it is a bit odd to use PHP.  Not
necesarily bad, just a bit odd.  And there are situations that are a bit odd
for python also (sound editing,etc).
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