[zeitg3ist]

I would argue it's not the same at all.

If you're very much into art, you've probably seen the simple stuff already, and you would prefer to see something that surprises you or makes you think instead of the nth iteration of the same tropes.

But PHP is a tool, and you want your tools to be boring and reliable. (Whether PHP fits the description is a different discussion.)

[ars]

You'd be surprised. A lot of programmers want complex tools because they are more interesting. They also tend to write unnecessarily complex code.

For example instead of just doing something there are multiple levels of indirection and instead of simply operating on a variable they tend to setup overly complex types that get passed around. Obviously sometimes you need that, but I'm talking about adding this complexity when it's not necessary.

[zeitg3ist]

Of course those people exist, and they also exist in PHP land because as soon as you start using its more advanced features it is as complex as the other mainstream languages.

But I would guess that a majority of developers that are not CS researchers value simplicity over complexity, at least in theory. After all they’re just trying to get shit done.