The late '90s and early '00s were a strange time. It had plenty of shotguns aimed at feet and no one to suggest a better approach. At least no one with enough reach.
Also [1]:
>> "I don't know how to stop it, there was never any intent to write a programming language [...] I have absolutely no idea how to write a programming language, I just kept adding the next logical step on the way"
Also [1]:
>> "I don't know how to stop it, there was never any intent to write a programming language [...] I have absolutely no idea how to write a programming language, I just kept adding the next logical step on the way"
I assume he's better at it 16 years later.
[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PHP#History