sudo ln -s /etc/phpmyadmin/apache.conf /etc/apache2/conf.d/phpmyadmin.conf
sudo /etc/init.d/apache2 reload

…because it was giving me a 404 on http://localhost/phpmyadmin.

I’ve been using PHP for 6 years (almost) and 2 years of that i used CodeIgniter. I really liked CI because it took away many things i had to do over and over again. That’s exactly why i switched to Rails som months ago and while i am still learning it is so powerful, i don’t think PHP will stand a chance if they don’t change some things dramatically.

Hosting issues can be fixed over time and the biggest pain with PHP for me were complex SQL queries which Rails solves with ActiveRecord and relations.

I think PHP’s time as the most used server-side language will be over at some point.

To me, it’s all about the community and how the two languages evolved. PHP started as a templating language and then evolved into a full OO language. There’s so much legacy code, so it has to be backwards compatible. It’s like Windows. It’s hard to make radical changes to support new features, without breaking legacy code. They do add features (see closures, traits more recenty, etc.) but the process is slow.

Ruby was an OO language from the start. Most features were there from the beginning. Also, the community is obsessed with TDD (in a good way). When you have solid tests, it’s easier to upgrade to newer libraries and language versions. Code breaks when you are on the bleeding edge or constantly upgrading, but you find it early and can fix it before deploying your project to production. I’m also addicted to rubygems/bundler. I haven’t seen anything similar for versioned dependencies in the PHP world.

In the end, it’s a matter of preference. Pick whatever you feel more familiar with. I took the dive and learned Rails and Ruby even though I was quite happy with the PHP framework I used back then (Symfony). I can’t say I regret it. I don’t mind the learning curve or the hosting costs. I am more productive so I can justify paying more for hosting.

My reasoning for PHP always going to be on top is the same reason I believe Windows will always be the more widely installed OS, it more successful first. It really doesn’t have more of a reason than that. I think both languages are great, but I prefer PHP because I see no reason to learn anything else and I don’t really feel like it either. I know some people that love Rails, but if I were to ask them to do something in Ruby, they stare at me dumbfounded. It all boils down to personal choice.