Re:A Built-in Web Server For PHP
by roel_v on Thursday March 03, 2011 @06:02AM
(#2283573)
- You only consider one development scenario. It takes 15 mins to download/install/configure/set up vhost at the very minimum, that is: when you've already done it so often that you know all steps and download location by heart. In all other cases it takes a multiple of that.
- All unnecessary steps to get a task done creates friction. Having to set up Apache for the 100th time is downright irritating. Eliminating friction = good.
- "And I think that lots of people (myself included) already see PHP as a pretty bloated system" Yes, well because "lots of people" think its true doesn't necessarily make it so. "Bloated" usually means to complainers "has functionality that I don't use", more often than not followed by a euphemism for "please take away functionality that others use so that I don't get confused by all the options".
- The practical merit of a programming language is not defined by its syntax, or even library. It's defined by those things plus its ecosystem plus its tools plus it community plus all things around it. Ease of use is one of those things too, and a simple way to run scripts is a great boon to this ease of use. Python has an interactive shell, should that not be part of the default package? Some languages come with a build-in debugger, should that not be in the default package? All these tools increase the practical use of the language - one can debate where the line should be drawn, but an argument along the line of 'it's not strictly a part of the language or core functionality so it shouldn't go in' does not make sense.
- All unnecessary steps to get a task done creates friction. Having to set up Apache for the 100th time is downright irritating. Eliminating friction = good.
- "And I think that lots of people (myself included) already see PHP as a pretty bloated system" Yes, well because "lots of people" think its true doesn't necessarily make it so. "Bloated" usually means to complainers "has functionality that I don't use", more often than not followed by a euphemism for "please take away functionality that others use so that I don't get confused by all the options".
- The practical merit of a programming language is not defined by its syntax, or even library. It's defined by those things plus its ecosystem plus its tools plus it community plus all things around it. Ease of use is one of those things too, and a simple way to run scripts is a great boon to this ease of use. Python has an interactive shell, should that not be part of the default package? Some languages come with a build-in debugger, should that not be in the default package? All these tools increase the practical use of the language - one can debate where the line should be drawn, but an argument along the line of 'it's not strictly a part of the language or core functionality so it shouldn't go in' does not make sense.