RE: PHP on .NET DLR

K T Ligesh wrote:
>  The code is already there. It seems MS hired the devs 
> specifically so that they would stop working on it. 

Do you see a conspiracy around every corner?  Couldn't it just be
priorities?  That MS wanted an IronRuby and the Phalanger devs had the skill
to make it happen so they hired them?  And Phalanger was just collateral
damage? That'd be my vote.

> If they hadn't hired Tomas, we would have a complete PHP 
> on DLR by now. So there is little I can do. We need to get MS 
> adopt the already existing phalanger code; or just let the original 
> developer work on the project. So writing code does not even 
> enter in as the problem. 

What Rasmus said.  The code is available at
http://www.codeplex.com/Phalanger/Release/ProjectReleases.aspx?ReleaseId=337
5 and you've got C skills; what's stopping you from picking it up and
running with it?

>  Normally, when a company hires a developer working on a 
> project, the sane followup is to have him working on the same 
> thing afterwards. 

The sane thing?  By who's yardstick?  Not if that is not what the company
needs at the time.  

> Here what we have is MS hiring Tomas and 
> Lada, but then moving them into ironRuby. So there is a some 
> serious stuff going on. I am sure Tomas and Lada would prefer 
> to work on PHP itself, since they have done a really good job 
> with Phalanger, so it is a pure managerial decision to not 
> let them work on it.

MS is paying their salary, so MS gets to decide what they work on. Plain and
simple.  (BTW, I generally dislike Ruby too, so I'm not a fan of their
direction either, but I'm realisitc.)

> I think MS, even though they do have a firm commitment to 
> VB, is primarily a C company, with C++/C#, for which I am 
> thankful. Considering how they treated their VB6 devs by 
> changing to VB.NET (which has no relation to VB btw), it 
> would seem the C folks are the ones who are calling the 
> shots.  so PHP's C heritage would suit them fine. 

Have you considered that they have finally realized that the C heritage is
becoming legacy as COBOL became?

> I might rather move to a dynamic C# rather than Ruby. 
> I am incapable of coding in a language that's not delimited 
> using braces. I have this parser embedded in my brain that 
> can execute C style language automatically once it is 
> properly syntax highlighted in Vim.

Frankly I despise semi-colon delimited languages because they force you to
use syntax for the normal case instead of the abnormal one.  Braces are
silly when compared to a language like Python that is elegant and has no
need for them.

That said, I am not incapable of coding in languages that I don't prefer,
when needed.  And evolution has shown that the more adaptable species are
the ones more likely to survive.

> C is a horrible language, but somehow it has some kind of 
> charm and never seem to go away. 

Yeah, charm like a root canal.  It won't go away because most people only
envision small permutations of what they are familiar with.

> So I think being comfortable 
> with C and C like languages is the safest bet you can make in 
> the Computer Industry. 

They used to say that about COBOL.

> Of top 10, 
> 4--Java/C++/C#/PHP--languages are C based. So there must be 
> something right about the braces.
 
Yes, familiarity.

> So that's it? 'Nobody cares' (tm)? 'You can switch to Ruby 
> if you want to, and nobody's stopping you'? Or am I on the wrong list?

Actually, it's 'Nobody gives a damn (tm)'.  (Sorry, just jerking your chain.
:)

>  To be frank, with Silverlight, I don't think anyone has a 
> choice now. The hype is too much, and the number of hits that 
> ironRuby gives on Google is staggering, especially 
> considering its nascent pre-alpha state. So PHP will be one 
> of those things that didn't adapt to the changes and then 
> loses the war.

Listen, if Silverlight becomes big enough someone will pick up Phalanger or
otherwise port PHP.  Frankly I see a lot of reasons why Silverlight won't
become big; they are making a lot of wrong market choices.  And I'm not the
only one who thinks so. http://inelegant.org/silverlight/  and
http://diveintomark.org/archives/2007/05/02/silly-season  But then I'm
soured on MS these days. :)

-- 
-Mike Schinkel
http://www.mikeschinkel.com/blogs/
http://www.welldesignedurls.org
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