To build anything useful you quickly discover that it's hard to build from source (both the lang and extensions), some parts unmaintained for years. There are many counterintuitive idiosyncrasies you must deal with to be productive. The ecosystem suffers from the overuse of indirection and reflection. Php only looks easy, but the rabbits hole goes deeper than most other langs.
Sure but the important part here is it’s also easy to deploy to the internet for free or a few bucks.
All you said is right but still, I don’t think there is anything comparable nowadays and if I had to explain to my son how to create a basic non static website without using proprietary PaaS, I’d have a hard time (without PHP).
Was it the best option when you were a company building a product ? idk but at least it was a viable option. Was it the best option for any kiddo wanting to learn creating things on the internet ? Totally and we never got anything better for this since PHP.
Can you give examples of counterintuitive idiosyncrasies you must deal with to be productive?