In this recent post to the /r/php subreddit on Reddit.com, the question is asked "what is the nature of PHP?" and how it relates to what features make it into the language and which don't.

I've heard many times that a proposed RFC/new feature got rejected by PHP internals in voting phase, since 'it does not fit the nature of PHP'. But the question is, what is PHP's nature? Does it even have a nature at all? If yes, is there a standard or guideline of what fits in PHP's nature? I think its very confusing, isnt it? Anyone actually have some insights in this?

In the comments other users provide a wide range of opinions including:

• "I would recommend taking those types of comments with a grain of salt. PHP's nature is a very subjective topic, as you can tell by the other comments."
• "PHP was made to make dynamic web pages at a time when webpages contained minimal dynamic content. It was made at a time when web pages doesn't required a programming language to generate."
• "Easy to pick up and make a website for weak devs/prototypes (easy to abuse). Much of the hate for PHP is because this abuse is possible and exploited often."
• "As someone mentioned, nobody who does any sort of web development today can ignore Javascript and they will typically be switching back and forth between Javascript and PHP every couple of minutes. This is our target user these days and as such this syntax is appropriate I think."

Check out the full post for more opinions or to voice your own!