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PHP unexpectedly entered the top three most loved languages according to StackOverflow
The annual StackOverflow 2024 developer survey brought a surprise: the PHP programming language, which many are accustomed to considering "outdated" or "legacy", broke into the top three in the "most loved languages" category. According to data published on the platform, PHP took third place, second only to Rust and Python.
This result came as a surprise to many analysts, especially against the backdrop of years of criticism of the language for its inconsistent syntax and historical security issues. However, the survey data shows that the developer community is changing its attitude towards PHP.
Why is PHP in vogue again?
Experts attribute the resurgence of PHP's popularity to several key factors:
- Release of PHP 8.x — the latest versions of the language (especially PHP 8.0 and 8.1) brought significant improvements: JIT compilation, attributes, named arguments, and match expressions. The performance of PHP 8 has approached that of compiled languages.
- Modern frameworks — Laravel, Symfony, and Yii set quality standards. Laravel, in particular, has become one of the most popular backend frameworks in the world, offering elegant syntax and powerful tools.
- WordPress ecosystem — about 43% of all websites in the world run on WordPress, which is written in PHP. This creates a huge demand for PHP developers.
- Improved tooling — modern IDEs (PhpStorm, VS Code with plugins) and the Composer package manager have made PHP development comfortable and predictable.
- Community — the PHP community is one of the friendliest and most active. Thousands of open-source packages, detailed documentation, and a wealth of learning materials make the language accessible to beginners.
Interestingly, in the StackOverflow 2024 survey, PHP also showed growth in the "most wanted technologies" category. Employers are still actively looking for developers who know PHP, especially in the areas of web development, e-commerce, and content management.
What do the developers themselves say?
Survey participants note that PHP has become much more pleasant to use. "I switched from Python to PHP two years ago and don't regret it. Modern PHP is a completely different language. Laravel lets you write backend faster than Django or Flask," one respondent shares. Another developer adds: "PHP is ideal for the web. It was created for the web, and that is its strength."
At the same time, critics remind that PHP still lags behind Rust and Go in performance and system-level security, and also requires strict discipline when writing code. However, for 80% of web projects, PHP remains the optimal choice.
Conclusions
The return of PHP to the top of StackOverflow's most loved languages is not an accident, but a natural result of the work of the community and language developers. PHP 8 proved that even an "old" language can evolve and remain in demand. For the PythonLib educational portal, this is a good reason to remind that knowledge of several programming languages, including PHP, broadens a developer's horizons and increases their value in the job market.
Keep an eye on new PHP releases and don't be afraid to return to languages you may have written off too early. As practice shows, they may have a second wind.
