[peter_retief]

I don't doubt that php will be with us for many years so any improvements are great. Personally prefer to use a language like python that has depth of libraries and also useful for non web based apps.

[cynicalsecurity]

Let me share a secret with you: PHP runs just like a python script.

[peter_retief]

i do know people who write scripts in php, however, there are no libraries like pandas in php as far as I know https://pandas.pydata.org/

[cess11]

The extension system allows you to interface with pretty much anything you could compile on the same machine. For quick development of wrappers or whatever, take a look at https://zephir-lang.com/en .