[WikiEN-l] Re: Learn PHP

[Gerrit]

Tim Starling wrote in reply to Gerrit:
> If it was written in Python you'd just find some other way to avoid 
> contributing.

What makes you think that?

I contribute to Pywikipediabot, because it's written in Python.

> And then we'd have lots of people complaining that they 
> can't code in Python, and that we should be using Java or Ruby or 
> something. You can't satisfy every programmer, everyone has their own 
> preferences.

This is only partially true.

My complain is not that I cannot code in PHP. I can learn. But I don't
*want* to learn. I would want to learn Ruby, or perhaps something less
known. My complain is that I do not *want* to code in PHP.

To put it easily: each language has a group of lovers, a group of
haters, and a lot of people in between. I would not be surprised if the
group of people in between is relatively small for PHP. I do not know
for sure, however.

Indeed. In Python, Java or Ruby there would be people refraining from
contributing because they hate the language. I think the group would be
much smaller than for PHP, however.

> >PHP *can* be a valid reason to refrain from MediaWiki. Some people care
> >about things like language design, and since MediaWiki is of course OSS,
> >those people will not get involved in a PHP project. Nicholas and I
> >apparantly are two of them, I'm sure there are many others.
> 
> 
> I'd code for Wikipedia regardless of what language it used. I had never 
> looked at PHP before I started on Wikipedia. If it was in Python, I'd be 
> there. It wouldn't have mattered if it was in Ruby, C, Haskell or x86 
> assembly, I'd dive in. Because Wikipedia needs programmers and Wikipedia 
> is a worthy cause.
> 
> Unfortunately it seems most programmers on Wikipedia would rather think 
> of excuses, complain about the lack of progress and file bug reports.

When I contribute to Wikipedia, I do not do so out of some mission I
have given myself in life to make the World a Better Place. I do so for
fun. I do not find PHP or Java fun. Hence, I will not contribute to
Mediawiki core.

Nobody needs an "excuse" not to contribute to Mediawiki. Mediawiki is
OSS. Nobody is obliged to contribute. If nobody contributes, nothing
happens. That's Open Source.

I do find programming Python fun. Because of this, I contribute to
Pywikipediabot. Meanwhile, I also do something that might be useful.

Finally, I'd like to ask you to stay polite. You are implicitly accusing
me of lying, because you do not believe that my reason to refrain from
contributing is PHP. You are free to disagree with me. However, I think
it would be best for everyone to keep the discussion fair.

regards,
Gerrit Holl.

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