On Tuesday 10 July 2007, chris# wrote: > > Better docs on how to run PHP 4 and PHP 5 at the same time would likely > > be helpful, and someone is working on that for GoPHP5.org, I think. > > However, your claim that "you have millions... of lines of code that have > > to be nearly > > completely rewritten to be usable in PHP 5" is not true. Sure, you could > > completely rewrite your app, but unless you're doing something very very > > dependent on objects passing by value porting a PHP 4 app to run > > correctly in > > PHP 5 is not the herculean task that some make it out to be. You > > don't /have/ to rewrite everything to use objects. Even the procedural > > code > > is easier, with the extra array manipulation routines. :-) > > > > That sounds like more of a marketing issue. > > Greetings, and thanks for the response. > For the sake of clarity; I was /not/ indicating that /I/ had millions of > lines of code to /completely/ rewrite. But rather that there /are/ millions > (perhaps billions) of lines of code that need to be rewritten on the > Internet in various applications/ libraries/classes, etc...
Yes, I understood that you mean "there exists millions, perhaps billions of lines". However, I disagree with you on that point. :-) The only way that's possible, IMO, is if you're counting every installed copy of WordPress or Joomla or Drupal or PHPBB or whatever separately. And of course, most of the widely-installed OSS apps are already quite happy on PHP 5, even if they don't leverage its full potential. > And for many, this seems quite - as you put it, the herculean task. > Remember, most ppl using PHP on their pages depend on others to write their > pages/applications/ utilities. They go to > sourceforge/freshmeat/phpclasses/hotscripts download something that appeals > to them and discover that it don't werk on the PHP5 boxen their ISP/ > hosting provider offers. So they discover they need to fix it to make it > work. To most - whom know very little about programming in PHP, this is > quite a feat. So as most in the world; they take the > least-line-of-resistance and find a PHP4 hosting provider. Honestly, it's 2007. Any PHP apps that are not yet compatible with PHP 5 at all are either (1) internal apps that exist once and never leave the server they're on or (2) abandoned. Someone could still be writing code for them, but if the developer hasn't even addressed PHP 5 compatibility yet then the application is abandoned. Users of the application at this point should be looking for a replacement app anyway, independent of anything we do. > Bottom line; > there are zillions of PHP thingies out there that were all written for PHP4 > - far more than are available for 5. So until many (most?) of them have > been re-written (more accurately; adapted) for PHP5, PHP4 will still be a > /big/ contender - like it or not. See above. By this point they've all been adapted or abandoned. Adapting may be herculean for your average web surfer, but they're not the target audience. The target market is PHP developers (for whom it is not herculean) or server admins (who, from what I've seen, are already moving to PHP 5 even if the stats end up skewed). > OH, before I forget to respond; PHP5 is a > completely different animal than PHP4 for the average user. Sure. If you > were familiar with Java/Script it all looks quite familiar - technically > any OO language for that matter. Hell, I've been with PHP since it's > creation, coming from years with perl and converting most of my trusty > scripts to PHP. I also discovered many ways to write PHP4 as pseudo OO. > Like many I suppose. Anyway, speaking of the past; I remember there being > quite bit of resistance to the OO flavor that PHP5 offered. Perhaps it > lingers still. Well, here's looking forward to feasible solutions to > offering multiversions on most PHP hosters. ;) There's still a lot of resistance to OO. There probably always will be, regardless of language. There's nothing wrong with that. It's just one tool and style among many. (Now, if we can get true functional programming ability in PHP as well, then watch the fur fly! <g>) And that's why it's also a red-herring. One can write perfectly capable, perfectly good PHP 5 without ever using the "class" keyword. The claim that is still repeated that one "has to" rewrite everything to be OO in order to port to PHP 5 is, quite simply, FUD. Oh yes, and there is no such thing as Java/Script. Java is a pure-OO language. Javascript is a semi-functional prototype language. The only things they have in common are their first four letters. :-) > Thanks again for the response. Cheers. -- Larry Garfield AIM: LOLG42 [EMAIL PROTECTED] ICQ: 6817012 "If nature has made any one thing less susceptible than all others of exclusive property, it is the action of the thinking power called an idea, which an individual may exclusively possess as long as he keeps it to himself; but the moment it is divulged, it forces itself into the possession of every one, and the receiver cannot dispossess himself of it." -- Thomas Jefferson -- PHP Internals - PHP Runtime Development Mailing List To unsubscribe, visit: http://www.php.net/unsub.php
