PHP 8.X is fantastic with great OOP support, enhanced performance, and more to offer than ever. Check out this video to compare version 7.4 versus HHVM/Hack performance and similarity (version 8.x is even more performant now with JIT compiling).
Need multi-threading? https://www.php.net/manual/en/book.pthreads.php
Need asynchronous event loop? https://reactphp.org/
Need a content management system?
- WordPress
- Drupal
- Interested in Drupal development? Check out my guide how to develop a custom theme!
Need eCommerce Software?
One could say that the language was not built with asynchronous programming as a foundational core feature of the language, and that would be accurate. However, solutions exist for this functionality if you need it. Depending on your requirements, PHP may not be the correct fit for your project, where something like Node.js may fit your requirements better. However, if you are a PHP developer or company then using something like ReactPHP is really just a matter or preference as opposed to using something like Node.js. This is not say that ReactPHP is or is not more performant than Node.js for a given task, it is more to say that if your project is better fit for PHP there are libraries to give this kind of functionality to the language.
The language dominates the market (it will be around for decades) and also has a competitive market, and, fits many project profiles making it a great candidate for your next project. With a huge community, great support, and tons of libraries and frameworks, there is a lot at developers disposal in 2023 and into the foreseeable future.
And just for a chuckle, I found this quote from Brandon Savage a bit humorous:
If PHP is dead someone forgot to tell my bank account.
— Brandon Savage (@brandonsavage) October 28, 2018