Pragmatic: Interview with RasmusLerdorf, the father of PHP

Pragmatic supremacy: RasmusLerdorf, the "father of PHP", talks about Rasmus Lerdorf's straightforward personality and concise wording. the words reveal the spirit of "pragmatic supremacy. On the eve of the "PHP Global Developer Conference", the "real-person" received an interview with "programmer" and shared his programming insights.

Focus

The projects I participate in are directly related to users. I have been a Yahoo engineer for many years and is responsible for connecting infrastructure for hundreds of millions of end users. these basic settings are still in service. Now, I am also in charge of connecting the backend infrastructure of millions of users in Etsy. Technology is actually just a tool for solving problems. it is an abstract hammer and saw, and it is nothing remarkable. what is truly exciting is that it has used technology to improve the quality of life for millions of people.

"Question" as a guide

The title of "engineer" is more important than "computer scientist. With regard to the differences between the two, I think the latter is more focused on solving immediate problems. The reason for developing PHP is not because I love programming or language design, but because I do not like it. The programming logic in 1993 made it impossible for me to solve Web problems easily and quickly. In my opinion, only when I encounter difficulties will I flip the books and check the materials to enrich myself. my skills are not improved to improve. every decision I make is centered on solving problems.

Experience and Lessons

I made many mistakes and realized some of them afterwards, but I also achieved better results than expected. The most important experience is that solving Web problems should indeed focus on the entire ecosystem from the very beginning. Over the past 20 years, there have been endless solutions to Web problems, but the quality has been uneven. few of them can build a complete ecosystem and use it for ordinary people.

Where does PHP 7 bother?

The last 10% of PHP 7 development is the most time-consuming and boring. However, the powerful new features and performance have advanced by leaps and bounds, and the positive attitude has gained the upper hand and inspired the entire team to help us quickly survive. However, every update has endless tests, endless platform problems, endless neighborhood situations, and endless vulnerability reports.

Attract new users

I know that the version control system of Emacs has been changed from BZR to Git recently, but I think it is even better to attract new contributors. Git has become more popular recently, making it easy to get rid of water. But for long-term loyal contributors, version control systems do not matter. A good document and a process that facilitates new contributions are important.

If you can redesign PHP

If time can be reversed, there must be something I want to improve, such as case-sensitive Keyword. PHP was just an HTML template language at the beginning. In early 1990s, it was argued that HTML tags should be in uppercase, lowercase, or uppercase/lowercase format. I don't want to compete. I just made the PHP template tag case-insensitive. this practice is still in use.

Is JavaScript swallowed up in other languages?

The evolution of PHP and JavaScript is almost synchronous. I started with Brendan Eich (JavaScript designer) at the same time, and his focus was obviously on the client, while I was on the server. If you write a client application, you have no choice but to use JavaScript. The browser supports either language, but the server is very different.

There are many developers who write the client code, so there are many JavaScript users, and now it is blooming in the server. But JavaScript, like PHP, is only one solution, not the only one. this is good. As I just said, language is just a tool to solve problems, not a religion that worships people. If there is a problem and you prefer JavaScript, it is the best choice.

Programming Principles

Release as long as it is effective, secure, and fast enough, and then solve the next problem. The three are indispensable; otherwise, you have to go back and check the code to fix the next problem.

Future prospects

With regard to programming languages, I have never thought about the future experiences of these tools. I am more concerned about whether they can solve the current problems. Taking Etsy as an example, as a handicraft website, can it bridge the gap between rich buyers and poor artists and help them get rid of poverty? Can our infrastructure help other companies cope with equally important issues? Is our solution as powerful as a customer's problem? These are my concerns.

In the past, I did not like programming. I only like to focus on solving problems, which will never change.

Reporter: Lu Yuxiang, Zhang Xinhui

This article is "programmer" original articles, not allowed to reprint, more wonderful articles please subscribe to 2016 programmers: http://dingyue.programmer.com.cn/