Why google app engine use py not php?

175 views
Skip to first unread message

coof...@gmail.com

unread,
Apr 18, 2008, 9:43:46 PM4/18/08
to Google App Engine
I am a chinese developer. In china, py is not very popular.
So why google app engine use py not php?
Does google app engine will support other langauge, like php later?

limodou

unread,
Apr 18, 2008, 10:00:44 PM4/18/08
to google-a...@googlegroups.com

I don't think python is not popular in China, maybe you should
subscribe http://groups.google.com/group/python-cn mail list, and
there are 4390 registed users now. And many companies have began to
use python and django developping web site.

--
I like python!
UliPad <<The Python Editor>>: http://code.google.com/p/ulipad/
meide <<wxPython UI module>>: http://code.google.com/p/meide/
My Blog: http://www.donews.net/limodou

Aaron Krill

unread,
Apr 18, 2008, 10:01:10 PM4/18/08
to google-a...@googlegroups.com
1. PHP is not an object-oriented language
2. PHP developers are inherently bad at scalable architecture design and implementation
3. Because of #2, are inefficient developers
4. Google is a Python and Java house.
5. Because Google doesn't like you.

Will you people stop complaining that PHP isn't supported? PHP is a god-awful, over-used, ugly, hack language and has been that way since the later released of PHP3. PHP IS NOT GOOD FOR WEB APPLICATIONS no matter how much you crazies try and use it for such. That's right, I'm talking to you Facebook/Myspace/Digg. You know why you guys have such a hard time with scaling and availabilty? You're using PHP and MySQL.

PHP is a templating engine that somewhere along the line got turned into a programming language. And you know what's really crazy? There's now templating engines FOR THE TEMPLATING ENGINE!

Ok, rant done. Have fun.

Aaron Krill

unread,
Apr 18, 2008, 10:01:59 PM4/18/08
to google-a...@googlegroups.com
On Fri, Apr 18, 2008 at 7:00 PM, limodou <lim...@gmail.com> wrote:

On Sat, Apr 19, 2008 at 9:43 AM, coof...@gmail.com <coof...@gmail.com> wrote:
>
>  I am a chinese developer. In china, py is not very popular.
>  So why google app engine use py not php?
>  Does google app engine will support other langauge, like php later?

I don't think python is not popular in China, maybe you should
subscribe http://groups.google.com/group/python-cn mail list, and
there are 4390 registed users now. And many companies have began to
use python and django developping web site.

Ya, I've gotten tons of job offers from China doing Python/Django work. I just... won't move there. Heh.
 

manschmidt

unread,
Apr 19, 2008, 1:08:59 PM4/19/08
to Google App Engine
errr..

> 1. PHP is not an object-oriented language
--> Not right, PHP5 is.

> 2. PHP developers are inherently bad at scalable architecture design and
implementation
--> You can say the same about Python-Coders, not giving a thought
about if it's right or not. There are just many programmers beginning
with php, that's why you think they are bad.

> 3. Because of #2, are inefficient developers
--> PHP is a very efficent language because the learning and
developing time is really decreased to other languages.
Fact is, PHP is intended to used on WebServer's, while other languages
are not. Still those other languages are used.

> 4. Google is a Python and Java house.
If it's true theres nothing to complain about.

> 5. Because Google doesn't like you.
So Google is a human? How can a company doesn't like anyone ?!

I think PHP is really interesting thing to think about, allthought it
have it's limitations to you.

I would sign to use PHP as the next language, in fact many developers
are using php, not py. This would make it really more used than now.

keep on coding,
manuel

On Apr 19, 4:01 am, "Aaron Krill" <aa...@krillr.com> wrote:
> 1. PHP is not an object-oriented language
> 2. PHP developers are inherently bad at scalable architecture design and
> implementation
> 3. Because of #2, are inefficient developers
> 4. Google is a Python and Java house.
> 5. Because Google doesn't like you.
>
> Will you people stop complaining that PHP isn't supported? PHP is a
> god-awful, over-used, ugly, hack language and has been that way since the
> later released of PHP3. PHP IS NOT GOOD FOR WEB APPLICATIONS no matter how
> much you crazies try and use it for such. That's right, I'm talking to you
> Facebook/Myspace/Digg. You know why you guys have such a hard time with
> scaling and availabilty? You're using PHP and MySQL.
>
> PHP is a templating engine that somewhere along the line got turned into a
> programming language. And you know what's really crazy? There's now
> templating engines FOR THE TEMPLATING ENGINE!
>
> Ok, rant done. Have fun.
>
> On Fri, Apr 18, 2008 at 6:43 PM, coofu...@gmail.com <coofu...@gmail.com>

babylon

unread,
Apr 19, 2008, 1:20:25 PM4/19/08
to Google App Engine
So i think there is no reason Google don't want to support PHP which i
thought they will support soon. No matter how bad the language is it
doesn't matter as long as it is the most popular and everybody use it.
So,no need to setup a language war here.

Peter Svensson

unread,
Apr 19, 2008, 2:36:06 PM4/19/08
to google-a...@googlegroups.com
I did a quiz on LinkedIn some time ago, trying to ask people who had experience at doing major projects in both Java and PHP to comment on what they felt were the differences between the languages, approaches to resolving thorny problems and general code-to-delivery time.

I didn't find one person who had significant experience in both languages (as I have myself). One of the most sad things in todays 'fitness' debates is that peoeple argue from general principles from one side of the fence, arguing by instrument about the other.

Having the required experience, I can say that PHP is both mature, simple to learn and lead to very small codebases, since the people making the APIs seem to focus on giving you quick access to powerful functionality rather that jumping through hoops for the sake of a committee principle.[reference to generic Steve Yegge article here]

Having said that, it is certainly possible that Python might out-PHP PHP in that regard. I simply don't know enough Python yet, but it seems promising. Actually, I don't really see the need to add more languages at all, even though I don't know Python yet. I know I will soon.

I am for dynamic languages, and I hope that PHP will be part of the package, since it let the right kind of people aboard. No, I don't mean the n00bs mentioned before, but people with scars and reflexes from building consumer-centric stuff all over the net.

However, most probably Google will use a doctored JVM of some kind, which will mean groovy, Java (sort of) and Ruby. The only hope for PHP is if someone has made a JVM version.

Cheers,
PS

Aaron Krill

unread,
Apr 19, 2008, 3:06:05 PM4/19/08
to google-a...@googlegroups.com
On Sat, Apr 19, 2008 at 10:08 AM, manschmidt <goog...@tliff.com> wrote:

errr..

> 1. PHP is not an object-oriented language
--> Not right, PHP5 is.

PHP5 have object-oriented features, yes. However PHP is not an object-oriented language.
 


>  2. PHP developers are inherently bad at scalable architecture design and
 implementation
--> You can say the same about Python-Coders, not giving a thought
about if it's right or not. There are just many programmers beginning
with php, that's why you think they are bad.

Actually it's more that PHP's community and indeed the language itself encourages poor design and programming behavior. Much like Perl.
 


> 3. Because of #2, are inefficient developers
--> PHP is a very efficent language because the learning and
developing time is really decreased to other languages.
Fact is, PHP is intended to used on WebServer's, while other languages
are not. Still those other languages are used.

PHP is intended for use on webservers, yes. And it is great for small, non-mission-critical application with low traffic on shared hosts. But if you compare even Hello World applications running on Apache 2.2  with mod_php and mod_python, the php script is much slower than the python script in terms of response time. I should have the benchmark numbers around here somewhere...
 


> 4. Google is a Python and Java house.
If it's true theres nothing to complain about. 


> 5. Because Google doesn't like you.
So Google is a human? How can a company doesn't like anyone ?!

That one was a joke ;-)
 

Jeremey Barrett

unread,
Apr 19, 2008, 3:12:04 PM4/19/08
to google-a...@googlegroups.com
I've done significant development in Python, Ruby, PHP (though not as
recently), Perl, C, etc. over the years, and I look at it like this:

- it is totally possible to write good code in almost any language
- it is even more possible to write bad code in every language

Having said that:

- some languages by their nature encourage better code and
good thinking about a project
- some languages do very little to encourage good code or
architecture
- IMO concise syntax matters

In my experience, Python does far more to encourage good
thinking and good development than PHP does, as a language.
That doesn't mean all PHP code sucks, nor does it comment on
the nature of PHP developers.

But, I think the average Python project is more thought out and
better architected than the average PHP project. Again, since
some people read too much into statements like that, I don't mean
that all PHP projects aren't well thought out.

For what it's worth.

That, and Google uses Python. I will be surprised if PHP is ever
supported on appengine. I don't care one way or another, but I'll
be surprised. If someday it is, I won't use it. :)

Jeremey.

manschmidt

unread,
Apr 19, 2008, 3:32:50 PM4/19/08
to Google App Engine
By the way, i'm not saying python is bad, you can say py is better
than PHP

but fact is: it's not the languages limiting coders, it's the coders
themselves.

I'm coding in PHP since about 2 or 3 years, even working with PHP in
germany. (that's why my english is so bad)
Until two months ago, I was just using 10% of the possibilites I could
use with PHP. I found about that and made some scripts using more. But
many others didn't do so so far.

PHP is a really well thought language at all, there is no discussion
to be discussed about that.

The discussion is more about the coders and their style. If I look at
the situation in germany, where I can find these so called "scripting
kiddies" at forums, offering PHP coding for less than 5€ (about 6-8 $)
per hour, I know about that quality. I've already seen programmers
claiming about in forums "Answer fast or I cannot make my project
ready until xx th March 2008" and asking in about 500 Threads how to
code this or that in PHP - still selling the code developed by that
way to an user of the same forum...

I would agree absolutely with you, if you would keep those coders out
here.

Sure, those experienced may switch over to Python if PHP is definetly
not supported by GAE, I think it's not that big problem (coming from
PHP-Background myself, I can definitely say that) - but its more
confortable if GAE provides PHP in future to us.

Still it's a decision made by Googlers, they sure thought about PHP
already - if they find such exotic languages like Python :-) (I didn't
heard about Python before this project).

I'm not complaining about the non-providing of PHP, anymore (I was at
the beginning to 100%). But, in fact there are coming more languages
and PHP is definitely worth to take a look at.

keep on coding,
manuel
On Apr 19, 9:12 pm, "Jeremey Barrett" <jeremey.barr...@gmail.com>
wrote:
> I've done significant development in Python, Ruby, PHP (though not as
> recently), Perl, C, etc. over the years, and I look at it like this:
>
> - it is totally possible to write good code in almost any language
> - it is even more possible to write bad code in every language
>
> Having said that:
>
> - some languages by their nature encourage better code and
> good thinking about a project
> - some languages do very little to encourage good code or
> architecture
> - IMO concise syntax matters
>
> In my experience, Python does far more to encourage good
> thinking and good development than PHP does, as a language.
> That doesn't mean all PHP code sucks, nor does it comment on
> the nature of PHP developers.
>
> But, I think the average Python project is more thought out and
> better architected than the average PHP project. Again, since
> some people read too much into statements like that, I don't mean
> that all PHP projects aren't well thought out.
>
> For what it's worth.
>
> That, and Google uses Python. I will be surprised if PHP is ever
> supported on appengine. I don't care one way or another, but I'll
> be surprised. If someday it is, I won't use it. :)
>
> Jeremey.
>

Raffaele Castagno

unread,
Apr 19, 2008, 3:48:22 PM4/19/08
to Google App Engine
Py may not be so popular in Chine, but is ad Google.
Python, and Java. Very popular, indeed.
So the next language to be supported in AppEngine will probably be
Java, or maybe the groovy cousin.

Raffaele

Marcusthe...@gmail.com

unread,
Apr 19, 2008, 5:43:47 PM4/19/08
to Google App Engine
Python is just the first language of many to be supported on App
Engine. There's plenty of good reasons why, not in the least that
Guido Von Rossom (creator and maintainer of Python) is on the project.

Given PHP's relative popularity, it seems likely that it will be
supported eventually. My finger is on Ruby-on-Rails for the second
supported language, though.

max7

unread,
Apr 20, 2008, 5:46:46 PM4/20/08
to Google App Engine
I am absolutely agree with Aaron.
PHP sucks.
I am sure PHP in its current state would not be supported.

There are good and bad languages.

PHP is bad.

It is easier to make good code with good language.

I do not like php.ini
Why same code php code does not work everywhere without hacks?

Why there are register_globals and magic_quotes and many others?
PHP could be much better if it had no register_globals and
magic_quotes.

----------

There is a proverb: A new language a new world.



On Apr 19, 5:01 am, "Aaron Krill" <aa...@krillr.com> wrote:
> 1. PHP is not an object-oriented language
> 2. PHP developers are inherently bad at scalable architecture design and
> implementation
> 3. Because of #2, are inefficient developers
> 4. Google is a Python and Java house.
> 5. Because Google doesn't like you.
>
> Will you people stop complaining that PHP isn't supported? PHP is a
> god-awful, over-used, ugly, hack language and has been that way since the
> later released of PHP3. PHP IS NOT GOOD FOR WEB APPLICATIONS no matter how
> much you crazies try and use it for such. That's right, I'm talking to you
> Facebook/Myspace/Digg. You know why you guys have such a hard time with
> scaling and availabilty? You're using PHP and MySQL.
>
> PHP is a templating engine that somewhere along the line got turned into a
> programming language. And you know what's really crazy? There's now
> templating engines FOR THE TEMPLATING ENGINE!
>
> Ok, rant done. Have fun.
>
> On Fri, Apr 18, 2008 at 6:43 PM, coofu...@gmail.com <coofu...@gmail.com>

Tarscher

unread,
Apr 28, 2008, 5:25:28 AM4/28/08
to Google App Engine
I don't think Rails will be supported anytime soon. ActiveRecord will
be very hard to port to the non relational database approach used by
Google. Ruby support is promised though. Let's hope it comes quickly

On Apr 19, 11:43 pm, "MarcustheBlacksm...@gmail.com"
<MarcustheBlacksm...@gmail.com> wrote:
> Python is just the first language of many to be supported on AppEngine. There's plenty of good reasons why, not in the least that
> Guido Von Rossom (creator and maintainer of Python) is on the project.
>
> Given PHP's relative popularity, it seems likely that it will be
> supported eventually. My finger is onRuby-on-Rails for the second
> supported language, though.
>
> On Apr 19, 11:43 am, "coofu...@gmail.com" <coofu...@gmail.com> wrote:
>
> > I am a chinese developer. In china, py is not very popular.
> > So whygoogleappengineuse py not php?
> > Doesgoogleappenginewill support other langauge, like php later?

Patrick Keogh

unread,
Apr 28, 2008, 7:41:44 AM4/28/08
to Google App Engine
What the hell ... I've got 2c to spend!

My first language war was FORTRAN IV vs Algol.
Since then I've learned over 40 programming languages and forgotten
over 35 of them.

However one family of block-structured, object-oriented, typed
programming languages has
stuck in my mind. It started (for me) with Simula 67. It was OO before
the term was
coined, and I count Trellis/Owl, Eiffel, Python and Ruby as its
children (and grandchildren).

They have stuck with me because, for the largest range of problems
that I try to solve
using programming languages they offer a metaphor that is closest to
the way that I think
about the problem. You know, inheritance, recursion, exceptions,
information hiding and
that kind of stuff.

That doesn't mean that other languages are not useful, there are
classes of problems where
(if I still had the compilers) I'd dust off Snobol or Simscript or
something equal specialist :-)

So whilst I am extremely happy that Python is lang d j for the App
Engine that doesn't mean
that there is no room for other languages there. Hell if someone wants
to write web apps in
COBOL then let em I say.

Language wars, get over it! On the other hand if you haven't worked in
any of the "purer" OO
languages then it may prove mind expanding, so if you don't know
Python, then I suggest you
give it a try for a year! (I learned Fortran IV as my first HLL and it
took me a while to get my
head around Algol (what with call by value and call by name, recursion
and all that other stuff).
I think I am a better programmer from having had to work in Lisp,
Prolog, COBOL, VAX Macro
etc. etc. etc.

So there's my 2c.

Arik Fraimovich

unread,
Apr 28, 2008, 11:43:06 AM4/28/08
to google-a...@googlegroups.com
On Sun, Apr 20, 2008 at 12:43 AM, Marcusthe...@gmail.com <Marcusthe...@gmail.com> wrote:

Python is just the first language of many to be supported on App
Engine. There's plenty of good reasons why, not in the least that
Guido Von Rossom (creator and maintainer of Python) is on the project.
I don't think Guido has something to do with the fact that the first language being supported on GAE is Python. Two facts to consider:
1. Guido joined the project just recently (after the project started).
2. The project gives access to basically the same platform and tools that they use at Google internally. Google use Python for web development.


--
Arik Fraimovich
ar...@arikfr.com
http://www.arikfr.com/
mobile: 972-54-5945998
Reply all
Reply to author
Forward
0 new messages