[dcd0101]

Yep. It's just easier to start a basic site in PHP when you're new. The typical tutorial is "write these four lines in a file and upload it to any host." You're good to go.

Now they shouldn't, but people jumping on JS often spin their wheels until they get pointed to a boilerplate project. It doesn't make for a fair comparison, but it doesn't matter.

Now they're trying to wrap their heads around six major libs with loosely overlapping concepts, four build and orchestration tools, and ten-plus scattered files... for "hello world." Then comes the generally miserable process of figuring out how to put it online.

Throughout this process the reference material is all at least three weeks old, making it hopelessly out-of-date.

I mean, this stuff is often referred to (even here) as a kind of dumpster fire. I can't​ imagine what a truly new person would think. So while I'm not starting any new PHP projects these days, it isn't hard to see the general appeal.