45 lines
2.3 KiB
Markdown
45 lines
2.3 KiB
Markdown
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---
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title: My response to Aurynn Shaw's "Contempt Culture" post
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date: 2022-03-27
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---
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> This post is day 6 of me taking part in the
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> [#100DaysToOffload](https://100daystooffload.com/) challenge.
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I recently came across [Aurynn Shaw's article on "Contempt Culture"](https://blog.aurynn.com/2015/12/16-contempt-culture/).
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I'm a bit late to the party, but I wanted to talk about this too.
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Aurynn's article talks about how some programming languages are considered
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inferior, and programmers using these languages are considered less competent.
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It's a good article, and you should take a look at it if you haven't.
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## my thoughts
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One thing I've come to realize over the years is that there are really no "bad
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programming languages". Ignoring esolangs like brainfuck which are not really
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meant to be used for anything serious, most programming languages are designed
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to fit a niche. I'm using the term like it's used in ecology: every programming
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language has a place in the ecosystem of technology and programming.
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PHP is bad? PHP certainly has its drawbacks, but it also has its advantages.
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"Drop these files into a folder and it works" is an amazing way to get started
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programming. It's also a great way to inject a bit of dynamic content into
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otherwise static pages. In fact, it's simpler and more straightforward solution
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than building a REST API and a web app where you have to re-invent server side
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rendering just to get back to where PHP already was!
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That's not to say PHP is perfect or the best language to use. It's a language I
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personally don't like. But that doesn't make it a bad or "stupid" programming
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language. At worst it's a programming language that doesn't fit my needs. If I
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extrapolate that and say that PHP is a bad language, that would instead show my
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ego. Do I really think I'm so great that anything I don't like is just
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immediately bad? Something Aurynn said resonates with me here:
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> It didn't matter that it was (and remains) difficult to read, it was that we
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> were better for using it.
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I just want to conclude this with one thing: next time you think a programming
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language or tool or whatever is bad, think to yourself whether that's because it
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doesn't feel cool or because you saw others making fun of it, or because you
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actually evaluated the pros and cons and came up with a calculated decision.
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