I'm of course speaking from an outsider's point of view, but do you think PHP was a good option, or was it a "fitting a square peg into a round hole" situation?
> but do you think PHP was a good option, or was it a "fitting a square peg into a round hole" situation?
Facebook was founded in 2004. Whatever fancy tech you're thinking that would fit the round hole, it didn't exist then. They also never thought it would serve a couple billion of users one day, so they built it in whatever they had and knew at the time.
Same for Instagram and Python (they started with Django).
How they have used Instagram with Django is that they have replaced pieces of Django over time with custom parts which is a benefit of the design of Django.
Facebook was founded in 2004. Whatever fancy tech you're thinking that would fit the round hole, it didn't exist then. They also never thought it would serve a couple billion of users one day, so they built it in whatever they had and knew at the time.
Same for Instagram and Python (they started with Django).