When people talk about PHP not working or not scaling for them, I sometimes think they are not talking about technology, but the fact that PHP is too easy for them. [...] A typical opinion on PHP will praise it for speed of development, but moan the fact that PHP coding is messy and horrible.

In this new post from PHPEverywhere, John talks more about PHP complaints (as mentioned above) and how they really aren't much of a problem after all. He also talks about the "more flexibility equals less organization/discipline" feeling that a lot of developers get when working with PHP. Couple that with the blame placed on the tools you're using, and things can start to get ugly.

I'm sure this sort of blaming your tools happens in the PHP world too. As others have mentioned, PHP has low barriers to entry, and continues to be just as easy to use in PHP5 (despite the trolls who claim that PHP5 looks and feels like Java). A little bit more hygiene, a regular shave, and lots more discipline is the answer.