Interestingly, almost everyone posting to the Reddit thread got that it was a joke (http://www.reddit.com/r/programming/comments/81s36/i_hate_li...) but most people posting to HN took it seriously.
What is there to do with this besides chuckle and move on? I didn't come up with anything. I suppose I could destroy its life by publicly dissecting it. But, in the spirit of the original author, I would prefer to leave the interpretation of the story as an exercise for the student.
"You eat poop? Really? Ummm. Gosh. Welllllll, that's understandable. I... um... used to eat poop too! Before I learned about food. But if you give me a chance I think I can convince you of the merits of food. Let me tell you about my Road to Food!"
(Yeah, I love Lisp and like HN; I just can't resist poking some fun.)
If you met someone face to face who happened to be a PHP programmer, would you let them know that ostensibly based solely on the language that they happen to be using at the time, you don't consider them a real programmer?
I'm just saying man, it's a slippery slope and one that I actively try to avoid these days.
Sure, why not.
Happening across some of your other posts, you seem to be a person who likes to make sweeping generalisations in the hope of offending someone. I suspect that you're well aware of what you're doing and are doing it intentionally. So I'll wish you good luck with that and be on my way.
I understand that PHP is an atrocious language (although I haven't tried it myself). But if someone uses it to create a product that people want and satisfies a need, more power to them, right?
I am being unfair to PHP, though... Java sucks too.