Re: [tlug] MySQL 4.1.15, or MySQL 5.0?

["Josh Glover" <jmglov@example.com>]

On 07/05/06, Walter Hansen <gandalf@example.com> wrote:
> I surely didn't intend to spark an argument on php. I'm sorry if my
> views were seen as such.

I don't see the harm, since it provided an opportunity for at least
one person to learn a little more about PHP. People who do not care
can simply ignore the thread, so no harm is done.

> I really like perl. I'm not fond of OOP, perhaps I should be.

OOP has some real benefits, but is certainly not the magic bullet that
some of its more vociferous proponents claim it to be.

I personally find that OOP, when well-done, steepens the learning
curve to understanding new code, but makes it quite easy to extend or
modify the behaviour of the code once you put in the time it takes to
understand the object stack.

There are other paths to code re-use. Witness the power of the CPAN.
Most CPAN modules are Object Oriented in only the shallowest of ways,
if at all, but I would imagine that CPAN code gets reused more than
perhaps any code outside of the standard C library.

> This is all probably way to much information. I assume the other person
> discussing php has been programming in the language very actively and
> probably well exceeds my skills in the language.

Perhaps, but that hardly means he is pushing the envelope with regards
to PHP's OOP implementation. Most users of PHP do not require such
sophistication.

> I think it's pretty funny that when I modify code that I wrote years ago
>   I can't help but think "what idiot wrote this?"

I think that is one of the signs of a programmer who is still learning
(a Good Thing). Be afraid when you *don't* think that code you wrote
in the past is crap; that probably means that your skills are
stagnating.

-Josh