I really like PHP. I like how it is not overly complex, and how it provides freedom in how to put together websites.

However, what has been growing on me over the last few years is what I don’t like about this freedom. Giving other programmers the freedom to write very sloppy code. An example of this is object oriented programming. If this is utilized correctly in PHP, it is meant to make maintenance and updates a lot easier. It also is meant to save time by giving you access to code that has already been written for the system. However, if you get a PHP programmer writing OOP, but they don’t really understand how to use it….you sometimes end up with what I like to call “nightmare code”. Simple tasks or bugs end up taking hours and sometimes days to figure out, because you can’t figure out what the original programmer was trying to do. Continue reading →