[gremlinsinc]

I disagree, -- sure if you're building native php apps w/out a framework.. but Laravel is probably the easiest MVC framework out there to pickup and build something that works super fast without having to know how to deploy a VPS, etc... For small to midsize php is STILL a workhorse -- but I wouldn't recommend wordpress or vanilla php themselves.

Laravel collections alone make it almost a functional language when using it w/ laravel.