> "Why is the rule restricted to LAMP? And why should the P = PHP & Python? What makes these special? Both are poorly designed languages (since I assume we're not talking Python 3k here)?"
Hehe, I think this is the exact attitude the author is trying to prevent. Far too many CS students become too enamored and obsessed with language purity, the perfect design, etc etc, that they end up never building anything.
The LAMP stack (in both its variations) is by a really long shot the easiest stack to string together (honestly though, Rails will work too). PHP is incredibly easy to approach from the perspective of someone who hasn't written too much code before, the documentation is way more extensive than just about any other platform, the user base is heavy and has a long track record for helping out. For a novice programmer this is an ideal way to build something end-to-end (which is the whole point of that advice) and learn the pitfalls that come with building a whole product (as opposed to one small module of a larger thing).
The industry needs people who build things. Whether or not you're familiar with Silicon Valley's Incestuous Circle of Hot Languages And Platforms is strictly secondary.
> Hehe, I think this is the exact attitude the author is trying to prevent. Far too many CS students become too enamored and obsessed with language purity, the perfect design, etc etc, that they end up never building anything.
I build plenty of things. I just don't get why you'd focus on PHP, which has little business value anymore (no NEW, serious project is going to use it) or Python (which is itself less questionable, but in a big period of transition right now). I'm suggesting building something with technology you'll probably end up working with once you're out of school, and Python 2.* is probably leaving that list.
I don't know where you get "language purity" from.
> The LAMP stack (in both its variations) is by a really long shot the easiest stack to string together (honestly though, Rails will work too).
Nonsense.
> PHP is incredibly easy to approach from the perspective of someone who hasn't written too much code before, the documentation is way more extensive than just about any other platform, the user base is heavy and has a long track record for helping out.
The target audience here is CS students. Odds are they've got a bit of coding experience.
> The industry needs people who build things.
Actually, the industry needs people who can both build and learn. EVERY JOB you go to will have its own stack, with its own idiosyncrasies, and its own tooling. If you are not ready to learn something new every time you go into work, you probably shouldn't be in this career. Seriously. It's this sort of attitude ("Stop fucking around with all that learning and build something") that has screwed our industry over so consistently. It is possible, and mandatory, to do both.
> Whether or not you're familiar with Silicon Valley's Incestuous Circle of Hot Languages And Platforms is strictly secondary.
Wouldn't C# and Java be the two obvious choices for employability? Neither seems to show much sign of slowing down at the enterprise level, where there are huge numbers of jobs.
Hehe, I think this is the exact attitude the author is trying to prevent. Far too many CS students become too enamored and obsessed with language purity, the perfect design, etc etc, that they end up never building anything.
The LAMP stack (in both its variations) is by a really long shot the easiest stack to string together (honestly though, Rails will work too). PHP is incredibly easy to approach from the perspective of someone who hasn't written too much code before, the documentation is way more extensive than just about any other platform, the user base is heavy and has a long track record for helping out. For a novice programmer this is an ideal way to build something end-to-end (which is the whole point of that advice) and learn the pitfalls that come with building a whole product (as opposed to one small module of a larger thing).
The industry needs people who build things. Whether or not you're familiar with Silicon Valley's Incestuous Circle of Hot Languages And Platforms is strictly secondary.