Re: Experiments with a threading library for Zend: spawning a new executor

On 19/01/11 3:51 PM, Stas Malyshev wrote:

Hi!

If anything, I would argue that PHP is a language unsuited to beginners (and other scripting languages), as it is so flexible it doesn't enforce good programming practice. Java is much more a 'beginner language' because it has much stricter

Contrary to popular belief, people usually don't start with programming to be taught good practices and become enlightened in the ways of Art. They usually start because they need their computers to do something for them. And scripting languages are often the easiest way to make that happen. Java, on the other hand, forces you to deal with exceptions, patterns, interfaces, generics, covariants and contravariants, locking, etc. which you neither want nor need to know, only because somebody somewhere decided that it's right for you.

Yeah, well, I was playing Devil's advocate and went a bit far (as you have too--arguing is fun, isn't it?). On a more serious note, I think what is much more helpful for beginners is a good teacher, or good materials to learn from. Almost any language can be a good one for beginners if taught well. Including PHP; indeed I have recommended and taught people PHP as beginners without much trouble. And Java. At any rate, the important thing is that beginners shouldn't hold a good language back, particularly if the innovations are not obligatory for them to use. Smiles, Ben.