Matt Butcher has a new post listing out some of the things he sees as the top five strengths that the PHP language has going for it.

PHP. It's the much-maligned whipping boy of "serious" programmers. And in some sense, its ill repute is justified. PHP's early evolution was choppy. The standard libraries don't feel all that cohesive. Decades ago, it had some security issues. And the community, as diverse as it is, continues to churn out just as much bad PHP as good PHP. However, PHP does have strong points.

His list of five things comes some from his own experiences and a bit with some of the newer developments in the language and community:

• One Data Structure To Rule Them All
• Web-first
• Vast Troves of Documentation
• Surprisingly Good Standard Libraries
• Stability In The Strangest Form

Each of the strengths comes with a paragraph or two explaining his thoughts, for better or worse.