Time Machine: Spit!!!
in [UK Mac]
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From: Ben Shimmin on 23 Nov 2009 07:21 Tim Streater <timstreater(a)waitrose.com>: > On 23/11/2009 10:55, Ben Shimmin wrote: [...] >> If your only criterion for the excellence of a programming language >> is having thousands of functions (with completely inconsistent >> names) that do everything under the sun in a vague attempt to make >> your life easier, rather than to help you do things in anything >> approaching a sensible, orderly way, then I'm sure PHP is the >> perfect language for you. > > My criteria include: > > 1) ease of use > > 2) usability in the real world (so, people have provided APIs for > things (such as SQLite) that I might actually want to use it with) > > 3) it comes free with the OS > > 4) there is decent documentation > > 5) errr ... > > 6) that's probably not it. Java matches all of those too, and you might even end up with a program that is actually well-structured and maintainable (not that that's *impossible* with PHP, just that I've almost never seen it because PHP lets you get away with anything you want). b. -- <bas(a)bas.me.uk> <URL:http://bas.me.uk/> `Property, marriage, the law; as the bed to the river, so rule and convention to the instinct; and woe to him who tampers with the banks while the flood is flowing.' -- Samuel Butler, _Erewhon_
From: Ben Shimmin on 23 Nov 2009 07:36 Jochem Huhmann <joh(a)gmx.net>: > Ben Shimmin <bas(a)llamaselector.com> writes: >> If your only criterion for the excellence of a programming language is >> having thousands of functions (with completely inconsistent names) that >> do everything under the sun in a vague attempt to make your life easier, >> rather than to help you do things in anything approaching a sensible, >> orderly way, then I'm sure PHP is the perfect language for you. > > Well, you don't *have* do use all these fancy functions. And while I'd > agree that PHP is a total mess here, this just reflects what's done with > PHP most of the time (messing around with strings, arrays, files and > databases). Other languages have much more diversified uses and add > thousands of functions via thousands of optional libraries instead. > > Convenient functions for lazy hackers coughing out bad HTML is exactly > what PHP was made for. And it's quite good at that. I think nobody ever > meant it to be an "excellent programming language". And it certainly isn't. I will be the first to admit that PHP is extremely convenient -- it's installed on most web servers and does lots of things that you want to do, often very easily, and there's almost always a function for doing something: you want to parse a CSV file, you'll find there's a function called fgetcsv(), and so on. The problem is that people are lazy and PHP gives you an enormous amount of rope with which to hang yourself in all manner of lazy ways, generally resulting in absolutely appallingly written programs that are a complete nightmare to work with. b. -- <bas(a)bas.me.uk> <URL:http://bas.me.uk/> `Property, marriage, the law; as the bed to the river, so rule and convention to the instinct; and woe to him who tampers with the banks while the flood is flowing.' -- Samuel Butler, _Erewhon_
From: Bella Jones on 23 Nov 2009 08:22 Peter Ceresole <peter(a)cara.demon.co.uk> wrote: > Bella Jones <me9(a)privacy.net> wrote: > > > > Can I offer you a cup of tea and a damp towel to put over your forehead? > > > > Yes please. > > English Breakfast, or Lapsang Souchong? Oh, always English breakfast! -- bellajonez at yahoo dot co dot uk
From: Peter Ceresole on 23 Nov 2009 08:30 Bella Jones <me9(a)privacy.net> wrote: > > English Breakfast, or Lapsang Souchong? > > Oh, always English breakfast! I now have Lapsang Souchong tea bags. Since Sainsbury's at Dog Kennel Hill started to stock them, my breakfasts have been transformed. It's like drinking a cup of hot bacon. Divine. -- Peter
From: Bella Jones on 23 Nov 2009 08:43
Peter Ceresole <peter(a)cara.demon.co.uk> wrote: > Bella Jones <me9(a)privacy.net> wrote: > > > > English Breakfast, or Lapsang Souchong? > > > > Oh, always English breakfast! > > I now have Lapsang Souchong tea bags. Since Sainsbury's at Dog Kennel > Hill started to stock them, my breakfasts have been transformed. It's > like drinking a cup of hot bacon. Divine. *giggle* -- bellajonez at yahoo dot co dot uk |