There's an interesting post Jeff Atwood has made to his blog about PHP - its lack of standards, the way the language is structured and why none of that matters when it comes to its popularity.

PHP isn't so much a language as a random collection of arbitrary stuff, a virtual explosion at the keyword and function factory.

He includes links to several other articles that follow the "PHP sucks" train of thought too, but he notes that none of that really matters - its the popularity of PHP, its use in major corporate and social networking applications that is seeming to help drive it even more for developers to pick up and learn as a first web language.

Why fight it? I say learn to embrace it. Join with me, won't you, in celebrating the next fifty years of glorious PHP code driving the internet. Just don't forget to call the maintain_my_will_to_live() PHP function every so often!

Responses from the community:

• Stas on the PHP 10.0 blog

Following up on some previous comments about Zend possibly lining itself up for a buyout, John Coggeshall has posted some of his thoughts on the matter being one of the ones that used to be "on the inside" of the company.

Zend has laid off approximately 25% of their R&D staff in at attempt to become cash-flow positive and potentially line themselves up for an acquisition. I don't have any hard figures as to what that means but I'd estimate that Zend's recovered somewhere between $6-8M in revenues [...] which is why Everyone I've spoken to who is familiar with the subject considers the lay-offs a positive thing.

He goes through the potential list of buyers that have been mentioned so far (Microsoft, IBM, Yahoo!, Facebook) and gives his "why" or "why not" reasons for the probability for each to make the purchase.

He also comments on the rumor of Andi and Zeev's recent trips up to Seattle...

According to some details over on TechCrunch there's a few rumors being started that Zend ("the PHP company") is looking to sell.

Israeli startup Zend Technologies has fired 25 percent of its R&D team (at least ten people), as well as others across the company, in an attempt to become cash flow positive, says a source close to the company.

The official Zend word is that yes, there have been layoffs but no, they cannot comment on the reasoning behind them. Several big names are being thrown around for possible buyers - Microsoft, IBM and Oracle - who have all shown interest in the past.

Rich Zygler has blogged about a trend he's been seeing that will make just about every PHP developer's eyes light up - the market for qualified PHP programmers has taken off dramatically.

While there are lots of PHP jobs in the usual suspects like small start-ups, there also seem to be a number of jobs at established companies and developer shops. I'm also seeing a definite split in PHP jobs where there are both entry level jobs as well as jobs for more experienced people with titles like "Senior PHP Developer" and "PHP Tech Lead."

He notes that the requirements for the jobs are just as diverse as the companies looking for candidates. Some want framework developers (like with the Zend Framework or Symfony) and some are looking for the "jack of all trades" sort of PHP developer that is flexible and experienced.

If you happen to be looking for a job, you can also check out our jobs section to find recently added positions.

Jonathan Snook has a new post about a CakePHP-related site he's worked up - WithCake.com to become something of a job portal for CakePHP developers.

The site is conveniently divided between companies and developers with RSS feeds for each. Companies will have their ad visible for a total of 2 weeks whereas developers will be listed for a month. To help support the community, I've also made all listings for companies and developers absolutely free. (Whether or not that'll change down the road, we'll have to see.)

Of course, the site is built entirely with CakePHP, making it a simple, (about) two hour process to get the initial version of the site up and running. If you're a CakePHP developer looking for opportunities, give it a look - there's already a few companies that have posted their needs.

From NewsForge.com, there's a new article centered around the effectiveness that PHP has had in helping a family business - the Caldwells' SeniorGlobe.com and a web development company, SonicFog.

When he began looking for a programming language to learn, his criteria was still affordability. PHP was the best choice. So he went to Borders and bought "a big book" on programming in PHP.

It was baby steps." Those steps added up, and although Caldwell says he's made "every programming mistake you can make" in the last six years, he has become proficient with the code, and he and his family have expanded their business far beyond the maintenance of one Web site. They've become a full-blown Web development company called SonicFog.

Tedd Caldwell is quoted as being optimistic about the company, largely due to the fact they opted to go with PHP, a reliable, easy-to-use open source offering.

The Zend Developer Zone has a quick note about its parent company, Zend, becoming a finalist in the inaugural Israeli Start-up Contest.

The even is sponsored by the Israel Venture Association and includes other finalists like: Amimon, Discretix, Deep Breeze, Mazor Surgical Technologies, and Itemfield.

For more information, you can check out this month's edition (on stands June 19th) of Red Herring.

SAP keeps popping up on the PHPradar more and more these days, and this new article from the ITtoolbox site blog explains the situation from a PHP developer's point of view in a SAP-using company (and a few tips to get you started).

They start with the obvious, finding out what version you're working with, before moving on to the actual development. They link to a few resources for tools to help you make the connections and functionality inside the SAP systems. The simple script they give to test things out just logs you into the system and displays a status for your connection - nice and easy.