Comments on: WordPress sucks, but it doesn’t matter http://www.pathf.com/blogs/2008/05/wordpress-sucks-but-it-doesnt-matter/ Running commentary about agile development, user experience design and Ajax. Fri, 09 Jan 2009 09:17:28 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.5.1 By: Jason Grant http://www.pathf.com/blogs/2008/05/wordpress-sucks-but-it-doesnt-matter/#comment-1904 Jason Grant Thu, 12 Jun 2008 15:28:34 +0000 http://www.pathf.com/blogs/?p=907#comment-1904 The underscores in PHP are to do with the naming convention used by developer(s) and nothing to do with language itself. Some goods points made here about ugliness of WordPress tags. I don't like the look of them indeed. The underscores in PHP are to do with the naming convention used by developer(s) and nothing to do with language itself.

Some goods points made here about ugliness of WordPress tags. I don’t like the look of them indeed.

]]> By: Brian Dillard http://www.pathf.com/blogs/2008/05/wordpress-sucks-but-it-doesnt-matter/#comment-1660 Brian Dillard Mon, 02 Jun 2008 16:24:21 +0000 http://www.pathf.com/blogs/?p=907#comment-1660 It's been pointed out to me that as a passionate advocate and programmer of JavaScript, I probably shouldn't jump on the bandwagon so much when people bash programming platforms that are traditionally considered kids' stuff. Thanks to all for the tips on quality PHP projects to check out for examples of PHP code done right! It’s been pointed out to me that as a passionate advocate and programmer of JavaScript, I probably shouldn’t jump on the bandwagon so much when people bash programming platforms that are traditionally considered kids’ stuff. Thanks to all for the tips on quality PHP projects to check out for examples of PHP code done right!

]]> By: Alex Reis http://www.pathf.com/blogs/2008/05/wordpress-sucks-but-it-doesnt-matter/#comment-1321 Alex Reis Thu, 29 May 2008 17:41:38 +0000 http://www.pathf.com/blogs/?p=907#comment-1321 Well I do think WordPress serves its role as a good blogging platform. I started my own blog a couple days ago and must say I'm quite impressed with the ease of use and clean look and feel you get from it. That said, I haven't come about ANY open source application written in PHP that looks even decent. As Eran said, Cake, Symfony and the like are changing this, but it's past dooms its present if you ask me. Take phpMyAdmin for instance: a very good database administration application, widely used, with one hell of a mess in its codebase. I do think though that PHP is a valid web application development platform, it just isn't used correctly, because as others said, it's just too lenient. If you take for instance C# or Java, they mostly FORCE you into using object orientation to some extent, and have a community built around standards and best practices. Hell I haven't even come over a PHP Coding Standards document yet. Well I do think WordPress serves its role as a good blogging platform. I started my own blog a couple days ago and must say I’m quite impressed with the ease of use and clean look and feel you get from it. That said, I haven’t come about ANY open source application written in PHP that looks even decent.

As Eran said, Cake, Symfony and the like are changing this, but it’s past dooms its present if you ask me. Take phpMyAdmin for instance: a very good database administration application, widely used, with one hell of a mess in its codebase.

I do think though that PHP is a valid web application development platform, it just isn’t used correctly, because as others said, it’s just too lenient. If you take for instance C# or Java, they mostly FORCE you into using object orientation to some extent, and have a community built around standards and best practices. Hell I haven’t even come over a PHP Coding Standards document yet.

]]> By: Eran Galperin http://www.pathf.com/blogs/2008/05/wordpress-sucks-but-it-doesnt-matter/#comment-1251 Eran Galperin Wed, 28 May 2008 23:01:10 +0000 http://www.pathf.com/blogs/?p=907#comment-1251 Wordpress is completely procedural in implementation, and it shows in its mess of a code. If you want to judge PHP quality done by professional developers, take a look at the code of one the major frameworks (Zend Framework, CakePHP, Symfony). I'm sure you'll think much better of PHP afterwards. Wordpress is completely procedural in implementation, and it shows in its mess of a code. If you want to judge PHP quality done by professional developers, take a look at the code of one the major frameworks (Zend Framework, CakePHP, Symfony). I’m sure you’ll think much better of PHP afterwards.

]]> By: T.J. http://www.pathf.com/blogs/2008/05/wordpress-sucks-but-it-doesnt-matter/#comment-1221 T.J. Wed, 28 May 2008 18:10:42 +0000 http://www.pathf.com/blogs/?p=907#comment-1221 Edit to my above comment, PHP code removed. Same with PHP, if you litter your HTML with inline [php] get_something() [endphp] your going to make maintenance and modification a pain. Edit to my above comment, PHP code removed.

Same with PHP, if you litter your HTML with inline [php] get_something() [endphp] your going to make maintenance and modification a pain.

]]> By: T.J. http://www.pathf.com/blogs/2008/05/wordpress-sucks-but-it-doesnt-matter/#comment-1220 T.J. Wed, 28 May 2008 18:05:20 +0000 http://www.pathf.com/blogs/?p=907#comment-1220 After reading the linked article and this one, one can draw the conclusion that any programming language sucks. I think the reason PHP gets so much heat is due to the way the majority of PHP developers write their PHP application (see: wordpress). PHP is the HTML 4.01 of the server-side world, it is very tolerant to incorrect standards while still producing the required results, but if used correctly is every bit as viable as its brethren. The key is seperation of logic and markup, similar to developing the front-end of a javascript/ajax app. If you litter your HTML with 'onmouseover' or 'href="javascript:"' your going to make maintenance and modifications a pain in the a**. Same with PHP, if you little your HTML with inline your going to make maintenance and modification a pain. Good coding standards makes everyones lives easier, PHP's only sin is being too lenient in that department (like javascript). After reading the linked article and this one, one can draw the conclusion that any programming language sucks. I think the reason PHP gets so much heat is due to the way the majority of PHP developers write their PHP application (see: wordpress). PHP is the HTML 4.01 of the server-side world, it is very tolerant to incorrect standards while still producing the required results, but if used correctly is every bit as viable as its brethren.

The key is seperation of logic and markup, similar to developing the front-end of a javascript/ajax app. If you litter your HTML with ‘onmouseover’ or ‘href=”javascript:”‘ your going to make maintenance and modifications a pain in the a**. Same with PHP, if you little your HTML with inline your going to make maintenance and modification a pain. Good coding standards makes everyones lives easier, PHP’s only sin is being too lenient in that department (like javascript).

]]> By: Karen http://www.pathf.com/blogs/2008/05/wordpress-sucks-but-it-doesnt-matter/#comment-1144 Karen Tue, 27 May 2008 21:31:45 +0000 http://www.pathf.com/blogs/?p=907#comment-1144 "All of those endless underscores. All of those functions with names like a_function or the_method." While that is the convention for PHP builtins, you can name your user-defined methods/functions using camelCase if you want. "It’s just hard on the eyes - much harder than the of JSP and ASP." If you're talking about the use of <?php, you can shorten it with <? and <?= (which is equivalent to <?php echo). You can even (until PHP 6, I think) use ASP-style <%. However, most PHP apps will not use short tags because it's a PHP initialization setting to allow it and not all hosts may have it enabled. This is also why many PHP apps are written for PHP 4; there are still plenty of hosts that haven't upgraded to 5 even though it's been out for a long time. Check out http://us2.php.net/manual/en/language.basic-syntax.php for some of the ways you can make the template-level PHP prettier. “All of those endless underscores. All of those functions with names like a_function or the_method.”

While that is the convention for PHP builtins, you can name your user-defined methods/functions using camelCase if you want.

“It’s just hard on the eyes - much harder than the of JSP and ASP.”

If you’re talking about the use of <?php, you can shorten it with <? and <?= (which is equivalent to <?php echo). You can even (until PHP 6, I think) use ASP-style <%. However, most PHP apps will not use short tags because it’s a PHP initialization setting to allow it and not all hosts may have it enabled. This is also why many PHP apps are written for PHP 4; there are still plenty of hosts that haven’t upgraded to 5 even though it’s been out for a long time.

Check out http://us2.php.net/manual/en/language.basic-syntax.php for some of the ways you can make the template-level PHP prettier.

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