on contempt culture

content/my-response-to-contempt-culture.md

@@ -0,0 +1,44 @@
+---
+title: My response to Aurynn Shaw's "Contempt Culture" post
+date: 2022-03-27
+---
+
+> This post is day 6 of me taking part in the
+> [#100DaysToOffload](https://100daystooffload.com/) challenge.
+
+I recently came across [Aurynn Shaw's article on "Contempt Culture"](https://blog.aurynn.com/2015/12/16-contempt-culture/).
+I'm a bit late to the party, but I wanted to talk about this too.
+
+Aurynn's article talks about how some programming languages are considered
+inferior, and programmers using these languages are considered less competent.
+It's a good article, and you should take a look at it if you haven't.
+
+## my thoughts
+
+One thing I've come to realize over the years is that there are really no "bad
+programming languages". Ignoring esolangs like brainfuck which are not really
+meant to be used for anything serious, most programming languages are designed
+to fit a niche. I'm using the term like it's used in ecology: every programming
+language has a place in the ecosystem of technology and programming.
+
+PHP is bad? PHP certainly has its drawbacks, but it also has its advantages.
+"Drop these files into a folder and it works" is an amazing way to get started
+programming. It's also a great way to inject a bit of dynamic content into
+otherwise static pages. In fact, it's simpler and more straightforward solution
+than building a REST API and a web app where you have to re-invent server side
+rendering just to get back to where PHP already was!
+
+That's not to say PHP is perfect or the best language to use. It's a language I
+personally don't like. But that doesn't make it a bad or "stupid" programming
+language. At worst it's a programming language that doesn't fit my needs. If I
+extrapolate that and say that PHP is a bad language, that would instead show my
+ego. Do I really think I'm so great that anything I don't like is just
+immediately bad? Something Aurynn said resonates with me here:
+
+> It didn't matter that it was (and remains) difficult to read, it was that we
+> were better for using it.
+
+I just want to conclude this with one thing: next time you think a programming
+language or tool or whatever is bad, think to yourself whether that's because it
+doesn't feel cool or because you saw others making fun of it, or because you
+actually evaluated the pros and cons and came up with a calculated decision.