Why Web Development is Done in PHP or Java
These days I'm getting more and more frustrated by my fellow students. It seems everybody is trying to get through with as little work as possible and those who are at least motivated are very reluctant to learn any new languages/technologies.
The reasons why everything but Java and PHP sucks
Here are some of my favorite quotes (paraphrased).
"No I don't want to start learning a new framework right now."
Right. I mean it's not like studying would be about learning new stuff. That's what you'll do in your day-to-day job when you got the time to mess around without pressure from bosses and/or clients and such.
Besides that, everybody knows the web hates new technologies.
"Yeah, I mean Ruby and Rails might be okay but it's not like one needs to follow every single hype."
Exactly. Everybody knows that PHP is for web coding. How on earth would one get a job with that funky stuff that doesn't even look like C anymore?
Are those languages even stable yet? Couldn't have been around for more than say 1 or 2 years. Java and PHP at least have been around for, like, ever (1995, 1995) - unlike Ruby (1995) or even Python (1991)
"Dynamically typed languages just don't work for big projects."
Wow - now you got me. But wait, I think I remember a medium sized site that seems to do pretty good. Now if I could recall the name… I think it started with 'Face' and ended with 'book'. Oh and wait - isn't PHP like dynamically typed or something?
Professor: "[Lengthy reasoning about why it might pay to learn something less mainstream.] Choose any framework you like. Perhaps you have waited for a chance to play around with a certain one - this is your chance."
Student: "Can we use Java or .NET?"
I guess I don't have to mention those are the exact ones that were covered by our earlier studies.
So Mr Loudmouth what should we use then?
How would I know what's the right language/framework/whatever for your project? But how do you expect to know if you never tried anything besides the beaten track?
To me it seems pretty much none of my contemporaries want to learn anything unless they get a grade for it. And as such they completly miss the point in my humble opinion. You shouldn't get a Masters's degree for barely meeting expectations. You should get one for showing that you are able and willing to learn stuff and make good use of it.
We are constantly told that we will most likley end up in managing positions where we will have to make decisions. But how can one make educated decisions if s/he hardly knows anything about the choices save one?
Update 2011-03-16 23:47:
Some textual cleanups. Probably shouldn't publish stuff while being angry. But have a bonus quote (and this one is literal):
"Oh I never got object-oriented design."