PHP 5.1 introduces (finally) a single set of functions for database access, regardless of the database used. No more mucking about with those horrible PEAR classes. SitePoint's PHP Blog asks: "Could this be the killer feature that draws developers to PHP 5.1 when real-world adoption of PHP 5 is still lagging?" Perhaps, but not for me. I'm still quite happy with PHP4.x. I'll consider adopting PHP 5 in a year (or two). I guess I fall in the "conservative" camp, not the early adopter camp. Here's the thing: there is nothing I can't do in PHP4 right now that makes the learning curve for 5 worth it. And I use libraries that are PHP4. I am a conservative coder. Wait. I'm not really a coder. I'm someone who codes because he has to and can't afford to hire a real coder. I code because I want to build cool stuff, and you need code for that. I am a coder by necessity.
I am also a bad coder, but good enough to get the job done. I used to code professionally. That company went down. (No correlation there, I believe.) Now, I still code pretty much the same way I did back then, and it works. I use a few libraries for the hard stuff. I use templates. I use SQL. Good enough for most apps. I fool myself that the vision and things like UI and usability make up for my lack of coding skill.s I'll shut up now. Damn coffee.