₦airaland Forum

a language is defined by how simply it allows you build complex applications and still retain sanity. if it comes to that, i'd say Python is the "better" language. PHP's biggest "advantage" over Python is that it was designed for the web (sorry, PHP-GTK fanboys). Python was designed as a general-purpose programming language, and people who loved it decided to create frameworks that allow it be used on the web (CGI programming in C, anyone? or you're all too young to know that? ). Python's syntax is cleaner and messes less with your brain. switching from procedural programming to OOP in Python is a no-brainer, but in PHP, it's horrible. then there's that PHP4/PHP5 backward-compatibility thing to deal with. little wonder most people just stick with procedural programming in PHP. like Seun said, PHP is a "great" language for the web - mostly because it has become so entrenched. use it anywhere else, and you begin to pay a price. i've used an AGI application written in PHP and everytime i try to read the code, it's like: witw??!??!?!? the most important thing is productivity, however. how quickly can you get things done with the tools you use? because a programming language, like Photoshop, the GIMP, Blender, 3ds max and so many other software packages - is merely a tool.
personally, i've found Python more relevant to my work than PHP in the last year or so. i've written a couple of small scripts in Python to accomplish small, important tasks like generate dummy data for me to test database-backed applications with, sort data like Asterisk CDRs. at first i was using C++, but since i started using Python, i've never looked back. decidedly, i've never written a "real" application in Python, but the things i've written in Python i'd be horrified if i was required to write in PHP/C#/C++/C/Java. that's my 2c.