Is D the Answer to the One vs. Two Language High ,Performance Computing Dilemma?

[Nick Sabalausky]

On Mon, 12 Aug 2013 12:34:22 -0700
"H. S. Teoh" <hsteoh at quickfur.ath.cx> wrote:
> 
> But this is only the least of PHP's problems. I'm not going to repeat
> what people have said about PHP's flaws, but you can read all about it
> here:
> 
> 	http://me.veekun.com/blog/2012/04/09/php-a-fractal-of-bad-design/
> 

Ever since I first came across that, it's been my all-time favorite
article on the web. He absolutely hits the nail on the head.

> As for why mediocre solutions always find acceptance, I really don't
> know either.

I think it has a lot to due with most people equating "good" and
"popular". Popularity, by its very nature, is driven primarily by a
self-feedback loop, so the "core" of popularity-based selections
tends to be highly influenced by statistical noise, and is
therefore fairly random. Since "90% of everything is crap", most of
these somewhat-random popularity-based selections tend to be crap.

Hence, PHP being on every freaking server in existence (including
mine, embarrassingly enough).

Plus, most people (or really, humans in general) just aren't well
suited to making merit-based choices anyway. Too easily influenced by
less meritful factors like emotion, mental association, mistaken
assumptions, impulse, popularity, etc.


> I've come to adopt the rule of thumb that if something is
> popular, then assume it sucks by default, until it's proven otherwise.
> It has worked pretty well for me so far.
> 

I wound up doing the same, somewhat unconsciously. A Pavlovian response
I guess. And I agree, while it *has* occasionally led me astray, it
usually serves me well. Of course, I'm a guy to usually tends to fall
outside the bell curves anyway, so YMMV I suppose.