[mgkimsal]

> - Why are large parts of the implementation barely maintainable?

What parts?

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Possibly the part that essentially required \ as a namespace separator. This was because ZE2 simply couldn't be coaxed to deal with a different separator, and no one has yet spearheaded a ZE3 to take the lessons learned over the last decade and revamp the internals to allow for more modularized growth/modifications.

Most other languages have had underlying VM changes which allow for better language enhancements. Every PHP language change in the last 12 years has had to work within the confines of the existing VM, and I've not seen any substantial changes to it in 12 years.

[xd]

Thanks for your reply. I remember the ordeal on the internals list .. but what does that have to do with maintainability?

[mgkimsal]

It may be splitting hairs, but I don't see anyone able to step up and address the mods necessary to ZE2 to support any new features, ever. We're basically stuck with ZE2, and we (as a community) make the best of it. ZE isn't 'maintained' actively, it just exists, and I haven't heard of any plans for an overhaul or new version. Compare that progress to the JVM and .NET CLR over the last 12 years.