On Thu, 25 Mar 2010, Brian Stamper wrote:

> On Wed, 24 Mar 2010 17:51:38 -0400, Mark Tomko <[log in to unmask]> 
> wrote:
>
>> I wouldn't recommend PHP to learn as a programming language, if your goal 
>> is to have a general purpose programming language at your disposal.  PHP is 
>> a fine language for building dynamic web pages, but it won't help you to 
>> slice and dice a big text file or process a bunch of XML or do some other 
>> "odd job" that you don't want to do by hand.
>
> To be precise, PHP can indeed do these kind of things, particularly in 
> command line mode. I certainly don't recommend it, but if you're used to PHP 
> for other reasons, and you already have it available to you, you can do 'odd 
> jobs' with PHP. You can also use your teeth to open a tight bottle cap, the 
> edge of a knife as a screwdriver, and duct tape to perform auto repairs.

You say that as if duct tape is a bad thing for auto repairs.  Not all 
duct tape repairs are candidates for "There, I fixed it!"[1].  It works 
just fine for the occassional hose repair.

-Joe

[1] http://thereifixedit.com/