[MrZongle2]

Part of it is that PHP has evolved to address some very web-specific needs; in this process, developers of all skill levels have tacked on functionality which tends to give it more of a "thrown together" look which may be horrifying to developers who prefer languages that have been more carefully cultivated.

Part of it is a tribal, "Coke vs. Pepsi" kind of thing: the thing I am familiar with is good, what I am not familiar with is threatening and/or bad.

Part of it is because there are some downright terrible examples of PHP code out there. One of PHP's implementation strengths is a PR weakness: it is very easy for complete beginners to use it. It's like a zero-entry pool: anybody who wants to get into the pool can get into the pool. Some of those people shouldn't go into the deep end, but do so anyway.... and the byproduct of this can be horrifying and perhaps counterproductive for others.

As a PHP developer for 5+ years (with plenty of experience prior with ASP.NET and ColdFusion), I can attest that the language is a bit homely and doesn't posess a lot of cool features supported by other languages. But it works, it works well at what it was designed for, and continues to evolve (albeit slowly sometimes).

It's an adjustable wrench set that sometimes gets criticized because it doesn't include screwdrivers or hammers.

[tmikaeld]

Very well formulated.

I might want to add that since PHP is so available (it really is) - it's easy to throw functionality together get it "working" and try selling it - the buyers of course getting disappointed and thus hating PHP.

And that hiring a PHP developer with "experience" doesn't really mean much, so a hiring person/firm that is not entirely specific with requirements will get really angry and disappointed with the results.

This can be avoided quite easily by not being a cheap SOB (There's no such thing as 800$/month Sr dedicated developer), choosing a developer with proper references and actually planning the project before starting to work on it.