[wprapido]

PHP is not going away anytime soon. The only downside, it has no use beyond web. If you're new to programming, no. Better focus on Python, Node, Go, Java, or even JavaScript. There's still a strong and in certain niches growing demand for PHP, but definitely not suitable for a beginner, as lots of that work involves maintaining and / or upgrading legacy code.

[amazonavocado]

I consider "no major uses beyond web" to be a strength. Whereas other languages were adapted into use for HTTP servers, PHP was a tool for HTML rendering from the ground up, and therefore a specialist. I tend to trust specialists overall when it comes to tools, wouldn't you agree?

[wprapido]

Completely. That's why it's my bread and butter

[zapperdapper]

I see where you are coming from, but I have a built a few big XML processing tools in PHP that run quite happily on the command line. Having said that, it was a few years back, and I tend to reach for Python for text/XML processing these days...

[wprapido]

PHP is rather potent and I absolutely love it. Built lots of non-web stuff in PHP myself.

[gregjor]

Maintaining and upgrading legacy code is good work for a beginner. Plenty of work, and beginners can learn more from a working application than trying to write something ground-up when they aren’t prepared to make the design decisions.