PHP's one great strength is that it can be effectively used in a very wide range of applications. But doing that well requires using the language in ways suited to that purpose.
The problem with people "defending" PHP is that they often only use PHP for a very specific purpose, and describe PHP from that perspective.
Hacking quick and dirty procedural scripts, writing something like WordPress plugins or developing "enterprise" applications with frameworks like Symfony or Zend are entirely different ways of using PHP, usually done by entirely different kind of developers.
The unmaintainable crap PHP is infamous for occurs when less than mediocre developers only familiar with one approach apply those limited skills to a project that requires a completely different approach.
What the author describes is not "how PHP is supposed to work". It's just one of many ways PHP can work. (And certainly not my way of using it.)
Agreed. The big problem with PHP, as I see it, is that you have to be already very very good with PHP to write a safe, well-performing application in it. The steps you may take along the way to get there may be very scary, especially if it involves other people paying you to do it.
The problem with people "defending" PHP is that they often only use PHP for a very specific purpose, and describe PHP from that perspective.
Hacking quick and dirty procedural scripts, writing something like WordPress plugins or developing "enterprise" applications with frameworks like Symfony or Zend are entirely different ways of using PHP, usually done by entirely different kind of developers.
The unmaintainable crap PHP is infamous for occurs when less than mediocre developers only familiar with one approach apply those limited skills to a project that requires a completely different approach.
What the author describes is not "how PHP is supposed to work". It's just one of many ways PHP can work. (And certainly not my way of using it.)