[jpgvm]

The thing is there are better languages that solve the same problems PHP solves at the same speed or faster. This is why Ruby become so popular.

Javascript is a sad story though, it's an abysmal language (even with ES6, though that does make things better) but it enjoys a monopoly over the browser runtime space.

I think asking why anyone would start a new project in PHP is a very reasonable thing to ask.

If you want quick and dirty there is Ruby + Sinatra, Python + Flask or Go + Martini. All of which are safer, have less 'quirks' as you say and are all faster. None of them require any more work than the current PHP alternatives.

PHP may be superior to some languages in some regards, but it's definitely no longer the king of the hill of prototyping languages.