I’ve recently become intruguied by what seems to be an increasingly popular subject to disagree upon in “geek blogs” and web development tech articles– especially between, in one corner, a certain population of the Formal, Univeristy or Tech-school Trained Programming community (a community which we tend to associate with ASP, and other more costly development environments), versus those Open Source / PHP Patriots in the opposing corner who hold, inherently (and understandably so), an opposing viewpoint.
As ‘new’ technology develops and emerges, so do the heavy Ad Campaigns from their manufacturers– that is, if those Software Developers are entities like Microsoft, Sun, Adobe, etc.. Take ASP.NET 2.0 for example. As quite the “Newb” to web development when it was released, I was wont to follow the masses and believe that ASP.NET was in fact the only serious choice for a scripting language for use in web development. Now that i’m more educated on the subject, i realize of course that this was not true. It only took a bit of research on my part to realize the power of PHP in the hands of an educated developer.
Nevertheless, it seems as though the viability of PHP as a stable, secure, and industry worthy development environment has recently come under more heavy fire by members of the closed-source camp, and moreover, there is an apparently heated debate over MySQL’s struggle for Credibility in the Enterprise environment.
These arguments, discussions, and viewpoints are a frequent topic of discussion in the corners of the Internet where the very Enterprise development community themselves argue over the future of the technology commonplace to their very livlihood. For example, one such popular debate focuses on the issue how MySQL may very likely soon challenge Oracle as a database of choice for an Enterprise backend. Because that challenge is not yet a threatening reality for existing Enterprise database developers, such debates currently make more ebb than tide. The inherent concern, however, is much more pointed at the very future of these specialized men and women, who may or may not be dually qualified to develop in an open-source, MySQL enviroment– certainly a valid concern for the ORCL developers and anyone else with a grain of compassion and respect for their fellow man’s own dignity. This concern might inevitably become a seriously critical issue when the MySQL/ Oracle challenge does indeed become a threat upon the future of thier careers, should their employers decide to cutback on Enterprise development spending in favor of open-source technology.
One dynamic of this issue which hits closer to home for someone like myself– as the owner of a burgeoning Web Application Development Service, I can’t help but have some concern over what will ultimately become of the general reputation of programmers who work in the PHP development environment– even those experienced, well educated, advanced PHP developers who have a lot of clients and success under their belts. Is there a hidden agenda being perpetuated by the closed-source developers when they write such articles defaming the proposed PHP Cowboys, or launch what is often hardly more than flame-baiting discussion threads (likely due to poor rhetoric) about an alleged superior security, functionality, or efficiency over PHP, a quality that these flame-baiters would claim is more inherent to scripting languages such as ASP.NET, for example, when they claim that the same simply can and will not be acheived by even the most talented of PHP developers?
First: Familiarize yourself with the Propaganda!
Oftentimes I find that I have a strong opinion about some social / technology / business / political issue, but it’s not until i’ve engaged in some discussion or, more specifically to this circumstance, not until i have authored an article in a blog, here in Whats On Your Brain, or in some reply to a Community Forum thread on whatever might be the topic at hand that day. Sometimes, I believe, the reason that I have such strong feelings about one issue or another is because, instinctually, I tend to get a little excited (or angry) when I sense that someone, some advertisement, or some text has been written for the purpose of controlling or changing my opinion about something without giving me the chance to retort, counter-argue, or even consider another possible scenario. I realize I’m beginning to lose you here, so allow me to bring myself back down to Earth and try to explain what i mean by offering a more concrete example.
It wasn’t too long ago that i found myself wanting, not out of necessity, but of my own desire– even subconscious need, to establish a credibility for my Web Application Development medium– PHP/ MySQL.
Admittedly, all too often, I tend not to leave well enough alone when speaking with clients about the work that I am doing, have done, or have proposed to do for them. For example, in a recent occurrance, I was cunsulting a client who was already 99% convinced that he was going to accept my offer to do the development work for his high-profile company’s web application. There was no relevant reason for me to bring up the fact that I would be using PHP scripting and a MySQL database for this project, but I went on to describe those methods anyway.
While describing PHP and MySQL to this gentlman, I began to realize that I didn’t have any stock examples to provide him for the purpose of illustrating that indeed there are several Corporations / Business Enterprise that use PHP and MySQL for their backend development. This client was not in opposition to my planned use of PHP/ MySQL, nor was he concerned with my need to use this open source technology. (I’ve used the word need for two reasons. Why? The first reason is because of my singularly extended experience with the PHP/ MySQL development environment, and the latter is because of the cost of the alternative technologies versus my own finacial resources, which of course inherently perpetuatues the former of these two reasons.) I, however, felt an urge to explain it to him. Why did I feel a need to mention open-source technology? Had I wanted to establish his trust and understanding, why did I not instictually focus on project development issues which should be more relevant , such as a explanation of my proposed solution for his company?
Forgive me for waxing all psychological here (to stand, soap-box like, atop yet another underqualified topic of study– psychology itself), but to reiterate what I stated at the beginning of this article– and maybe you too are haunted by a similar curse– I often don’t understand my true feelings about an issue until i am involved in an argument about it. Sometimes this haunting produces my own unintelligible vexation with my superego to the point that i find myself searching for answers to an unstated question. In this case, I have finally realized that the elusive question is this: “Why do I feel uncredible as a PHP developer?”.
Relevant to the scenario, this did happen to be my first “small-Enterprise” size project– a project, currently under development i might add– a time-consuming endeavor for which i solicted my services pro-bono because i wanted the challenge of an advanced project for which would work under a urgent deadline, even if that urgency or deadline is only implied– all for the purpose of furthering my studies with a ferver by which I might otherwise not be driven if i were merely reading How-to development books or working on smaller, or personal projects. I wanted to be forced to study and learn more advanced PHP / Application Development strategies because I tend to perform well in that kind of situation, and i recognize that the learning which takes place when i’m under that kind of pressure tends to have a more sticky brain-glue. Some might say i’m just a masochist with an agenda!
To wrap up the point of this article, i post the rhetorical analysis as to whether this personal insecurity about my credibility is a function of my own inexperience in web application development, or is it more likely because of the global perception of PHP and open-source technology, and the unresolved place in the business community both on the Corporate Enterprise level, and in the small-business? Should PHP developers care about these aforementioned, ongoing arguments among the members of the opposing camps in the high-tech Enterprise development community, or should we press on, learning and growing along with the rapid growth of the open-source community itself? For now, I will continue to take pride in my own acheivements as I sit on the sidelines and watch as PHP, through its incredible popularity amongst some of the most innovative, creative, and intelligent contemporary programmers, will eventually be as accepted as a standard language such as javascript or HTML itself.
-JS
I’d like to thank RobertPeake.com for providing additional inspiration for this entry.
(DRAFT)
this article is a working draft, but you are welcome to read, and certainly to add your comments at this time.
i’d intend to revise it at least once more before i submit it a few places, asking others to come and read it– but the ol’ O.C.D. ain’t never gonna let that happen, so i figured i’d better just let it go as it is. thanks for your help, and for ignoring and/or citing for my revision the spelling errors, any inaccurate crossreferencing, and general verbosity! by the time i take it down to two paragraphs, the whole thing will likely no longer even be an issue worth writing about!!
