11 or 12 Things I Learned About Life While Daytrading Millions of Dollars - Altucher ConfidentialWhy PHP Is Fun and Easy But Python Is Marriage Material
OnStartups
I think a lot about choices and decisions at startups.& That is the life of a
software entrerpreneur:& It’s a&stready stream of hard work,
occasionally&punctuated by some really hard decisions.& The decisions that are
hardest are not the ones where you have the least amount of information
—&they are&the ones that are hardest to undo or reverse.&
By this defintiion, picking the language/platform to use at a startup is one
of the harder decisions.& It’s very hard&to change this decision.&
Here’s the story of how I made not one but two big
language/platform decisions, neither of which really worked out — and which I’m
now paying the price for.& The good news is that the company did very well
despite these mistakes for two simple reasons:& First, I didn’t make
awful choices — just sub-optimal ones.& Second, success in the early
days of a startup is much more about getting market validation and traction than
anything else.& And, as it turns out, customers really don’t care whether your
SaaS application is built in PHP, C#, Ruby or Python.
On with my story…
When I kicked off my startup, , over
4 years ago (June, 2006) I wrote a set of articles on the topic of choosing a
language/platform — specifically for startups.& At the time, I was trying to
pick between C# and Python for my then fledgling startup.& The article was aptly
titled, “”.& The article was very widely
read, and still continues to drive traffic (likely because&it ranks #1 in Google
for “Python vs C#”).
I made some pretty good arguments in that article, most of which I still
stand behind to this day.& We ended up picking C# at the time.& The decision
came down to&one strong, dominant&factor:& I was more productive in C# than I
was in anything else, and that mattered — a lot.& Why?& Because it was basically
just me.& In the early days of a startup, you’re looking to mitigate unnecessary
risk and get to market as fast as humanly possible.& Within reason, my general
advice is& “go with what you know”.& By “within reason”, I mean if what you know
is a relatively mainstream language (Python, PHP, Ruby, Java, C# etc.).&&There
are definitely times to learn new things and&experiment with new technologies —
the early days of your product development&is not the best time.& Either you
need to know the language/platfrom from soup to nuts&yourself — or you need to
have immediate access to people you can rely on, that do.& So, I picked C# and
.Net — which frankly, if I had to do over, I wouldn’t have picked (more on that
later).& But, based on my circumstances at the time, I thought I chose
rationally, and I was solving for the company, not my ego or enjoyment.& The
good news is that the mistake wasn’t fatal.& [Side note: Patrick, if you’re
reading this, I’ll admit, you were right. I should write a follow-up article on
this on the topic of trust].
A couple of years later, I was faced with a different decision.& I
was&working in&HubSpot Labs.& HubSpot Labs is&a “startup within a startup”.& We
don’t have a written charter for HubSpot Labs (because frankly, I’m not exactly
sure how to write one of those, or if I did, who would read it).& But, the idea
was to build cool free&tools (see ).& These tools&pulled in&website
visitors, increased visibility of HubSpot, and helped us get some interesting
data that we used to benefit our core&business.& At the time all this was
happening, I was trying to decide between PHP, Python and Ruby.& I knew I wanted
a dynamic language, and I had whittled things down to those three choices.& I
picked PHP, and Python was my second choice.& Though Ruby/Rails would likely
have been fine too, there’s something about it that I just found unnatural.& If I had
a dog, the dog would bark at the Ruby code.& Python just feels more “natural” to me.& But that's likely related to my C/C++ background.&&But, I digress.& Back to
why I chose PHP:&Main reasons were: 1) It was easy to get started.& 2) It had
decent OOP support.& 3) There were lots of other people using it.& 4) It was
lingua franca on the web.&&The language served me well.& It was an easy
transition from my C++/C# days, and combined with an MVC framework like
CodeIgniter, things weren’t too bad.& I&actually had fun&developing in the
language, and after the first few months, I felt that the code I was producing
was about as good as some of the code I’m most proud of throughout my
professional career.&
I have a love/like relationship with PHP.& Sometimes I have good days, and
sometimes I have great days.
During my 2+ years of PHP development, I launched a bunch of web
applications.& Cumulatively, they’re getting millions of page views a month
now.& Not bad.& No major issues.
So, you might then be wondering, why switch away from PHP and move to Python
now?& Don’t I have better things to do with my time?& Did I give in to peer
pressure or somehow decide I wanted one more chance at being one of the “cool
kids”.& I’ll attempt at answering some of those questions.
Why HubSpot Labs Is Switching From PHP to Python
Here are some of the tradeoffs (PHP wins on some fronts, Python in others),
for those faced with the decision now.& Note:& The context here is a startup
that is a bit further along (HubSpot was 2 years old and had&about 50&employees
at the time of this decision).& But, some of the arguments still apply, even if
you’re earlier stage.
1. Python is well designed, PHP is not.& Although PHP is a
completely workable language — it’s still not an elegant language.& In
the short to mid-term, that’s not a particularly big problem.& Any experienced
developer that can create great software can likely also&write really&good
software in PHP.& (I’m talking about PHP 5+ here — and ignoring all the ugliness
that came before).& But, there are limits.& I’m not particularly bothered by the
weird idiosyncracies of PHP (the “needle vs. haystack” problem).& I can get over
that pretty quickly.& It’s the other stuff — which is deeper and more
nuanced.& As a “classically trained” developer (undergrad CompSci), I appreciate
that Python gets a bunch of the language&stuff “right”.&&It’s about how
reflection is implemented.& How functions are&first-class objects.& It’s all the
little things, which in aggregate, make for better cleaner, more
elegant code.& Although it’s perfectly possible to write good
code in PHP, it’s much easier to write great code in Python.& It is
clear that Python was architected to be a robust, well-designed and
well thought-out&language.& PHP “just happened”.& Not to knock PHP (I actually
love working in PHP) — but Python is just a better language.& [Note:& I
still am viscerally troubled by the using whitespace to indicate code structure,
instead of just using braces like the rest of the sane world, but it’s a
relatively minor gripe].
2. Python has a “clear” web framework winner:& Although
conceptually I like having choices (and I believe&in openness), practically, I
really, really like standards.& All things being equal, I much prefer
that all of us are working with the same frameworks and libraries.& Python
mostly has that with Django.& It’s close to the de-facto choice for web
frameworks in Python.& Maybe not quite as dominant as Rails in Ruby-land — but
close.& Contrast that to PHP where we have Symfony, Zend, CodeIgniter,&Kohana —
and others.& On the&one hand, this kind of competition is good.&&I’m sure
they’re all great frameworks (I use CodeIgniter right now), but the fact that
there’s no clear winner means that the market is&fragmented.& And, fragmentation
is bad.& It’s particularly bad when it comes to web frameworks.& The
learning curve these days is not a new language (it takes a proficient
programmer just a&few days&to get her arms around the basics of a&new
language).& The learning curve is with the framework.& The deeper and richer the
framework is, the more there is to learn.& Don’t get me wrong, I love frameworks (dating back all the way to the Object Windows Library that Borland
had for TurboPascal).&&Frameworks have an upfront cost, but provide a ton of
value long-term.& But, if there are a bunch of different frameworks floating
around, the odds that any given person is working in the same framework you are
lower.& And as such, getting someone new up to speed takes longer.& In Python
land, the clear web framework winner is Django.& This means that if I find a
great Python developer for the team (more on this later), they’ve likely used
Django.& That makes life much easier.&
3. PHP is lingua franca in the world of the web.& One of the
the early reasons I picked PHP, which is still true, is that it has become
lingua franca on the web.& If someone releases a new API, and provides a
“wrapper” for convenience, the first language supported will likely be PHP.& If
you’re looking to build WordPress plugins, you’re going to be doing it in PHP.&
In fact, many of the biggest open source projects out there, that you might
consider leveraging, are based on PHP.& So, knowing PHP is a very, very useful
thing.& My advice is that even if you do decide to go with Python — be at least
“reasonably fluent” in PHP — it’ll come in handy.
4. Low-End Web Hosting&is a non-issue.& Many people make the
argument that PHP is a great choice of platform for startups because you can
find a $9.99/month hosting provider that supports PHP.& No need for higher-end
hosting and you save money.& I think that’s a poor reason.& Yes, it’s nice to
know that there are thousands of hosting providers out there that all support
PHP, and that you can get hosting really cheap as a result.& But, if you’re
picking a language based on spending $10/month vs. $50/month or $100/month —
you’re focused on the wrong thing.& Assuming that you stick with your low-cost
provider for 18 months (a long time in startup-land), you’ll have maybe saved $900.& That’s just not a lot of money.& My advice:& Recognize that there
are things like Amazon EC2 out there now, and over time, it’s going to be just
as easy to spin up servers for Python as it is for PHP.&
5. Not all Python fans are fad-focused elitists .& One of
the arguments I hear continually online goes something like this:& “PHP is a
perfectly fine language, and folks pushing Python are just fad-focused elitists
that want to work on the latest cool new thing, instead of just picking what
works and focusing on building apps that solve customer problems.”& I’m
paraphrasing a bit, but that’s the gist of it.& I can see why people
sometimes feel this way.& Lets say you’re something like me:& You’ve learned PHP
and used it to build and launch “real world” apps.& For you, the cost of change
is high (maybe even prohibitively high).& Really hard to justify the change,
because though you might grudgingly admit that Python is better, it’s not
better enough to warrant switching.& You’ve got a startup to grow, you
can’t be bothered with trying to join the cool kids.& But, I’m to advocate for
some empathy here.& Lets say you were on the outside looking in (i.e. you’re a
gifted developer looking to join a cool new startup).& Since you’re really good,
and demand for great developers always exceeds supply, you essentially get to
pick where you want to work.& All things being equal, you’re going to pick the
place that is doing Python vs. PHP.& Of course, not all things are equal, and
you might actually pick the startup whose business you think has the best
chances of success or whose founders you like and respect.& But, often, it’s
hard to know that stuff upfront, so you focus on what you do know —
that developing in Python’s a better “bet”.& I wouldn’t fault people for solving
for their self-interest and preference.& They’re not trying to talk you into
switching, they’re just saying that it matters to them.
6. Low Learning are less important than high ceilings.& If you’re in the software development business as a career choice (i.e.
you’re going to do it for a long time), then the larger consideration should be
what’s going to create the most value for you long-term.& Some languages, like
PHP, have very low learning curves — it’s super-easy to get started.& And,
that’s awesome.& It’s easy-going, fun, and you feel super-productive (especially
if you’re making a big change to something new).& But, once you get past that
initial dating period, you need to think about your future.& You want to forge a
relationship with a language that will be long-lasting, rich and deep.& A
language that brings the best out in you — over the long-term.& Apologies for
the strained metaphor here — but it had some resonance for me.& So, back to the
title of this article:& PHP Is Fantastically Fun, But Python Is Marriage
Material.& Apologies for the strained metaphor, but it resonated with
me.& I’ve been programming for a long time, it’s my calling, and with any luck,
I expect to do it for a couple of more decades. Since I'm going to get into a long-term relationship with a language, I figured Python's a pretty good bet.
Whew!& That ended up being longer than I expected.& If you made it this far,
thanks for reading!& By the way, if you’re a gifted Python&developer in the
Boston area and looking to join what is quite possibly the best&company to work
for in Boston (, so it must be true), would love to connect.& The HubSpot
developer interviews are a bit, um, rigorous, but I promise that you’ll
meet some people that will have made the time spent worthwhile, even if things
don’t work out.& If you’re interested, just drop me an email at {dshah} @
{OnStartups}{daht-com}.& By the way, in case you didn’t know, I’m the
founder/CTO at HubSpot, and an all-around nice guy.& Just ask anybody.&
And, if there are any arguments you’d make on either side (PHP or Python),
would love to hear them.& Don’t want to start yet another language war, but I’m
fascinated by the topic of making hard decisions at startups, and this is one of
the hardest.&
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