[apocalyptic0n3]

Perhaps ironically, this attitude towards backwards compatibility is a big part of what held PHP back for so many years and part of the reason why PHP 6 was abandoned during development and PHP 7 used none/almost none of that work.

Instead of introducing a warning and informing the community that a feature was going to change or be removed in an upcoming major update, for years PHP just added new functions. You ended up with `mysql` and then `mysqli`. You ended up with the `mb_*` functions. And in order for developers to properly interface with all of these duplicate functions that may or may not be installed on your system, you ended up with jQuery-like libraries that would wrap certain portions of the PHP language and try to make them easier to work with. The comments on this (and most PHP posts on HN in general) are pretty crappy in large part because of decisions like this. It's also why the language basically died for like half a decade in the late 00s.

It's an absurd way for a language to evolve. At some point, you MUST fix the issues break backwards compatibility. You put out documentation and upgrade guides instructing developers on what needs to be done to facilitate the change. And as developers, we accept that we need to make sure we check that documentation before upgrading and in exchange, we get a better experience for developing new applications in the future.

[hnfong]

> And as developers, we accept that we need to make sure we check that documentation before upgrading

Not everyone does. I think I've read a couple times how people commented that Python2->3 was the worst decision made by Guido. (I'm personally grateful that Py3 makes unicode default and more sane than Py2)

With every compatibility breaking release, you run the risk of splitting the language into two. Perl suffered that fate (though not only for that reason), and Python almost did (Py2 is still used in so many places 14 years after Py3 was released in 2008).

[apocalyptic0n3]

This is true. You see this happen all the time with frameworks where the community splinters because of a major change. It doesn't happen as often with languages (perhaps because the average developer feels more removed from the development of those?), but as you pointed out, it does occur.

I think one of the differences here is how active the PHP community is. The Core devs are constantly taking ideas from the community and working those into or out of their plans for the future. They have open periods of discussion for any RFC and will engage with questions and concerns on Twitter and GitHub and Reddit and various other places. Those RFCs are voted on by 30+ different team members and requires a super majority to pass. Everything is transparent. Everything is discussed.

It's not perfect by any means (and the PHP-FIG standards group operated similarly and still splintered due in large part to egos), but it's not as one-sided as other languages and if you engage yourself in the community, you'll generally know what is coming and at least be able to voice your opinion in a forum that will be listened to.