Hi,
I've been getting quite a few inquiries re: PHP's "lack" of support for modern
technologies such as NoSQL databases (for lack of better term). There is some (mistaken) perception
that PHP is behind on this front.
I think one of the problems is that in the past we always ensured that the extensions for key
current technologies were bundled with PHP i.e. mysql, json & soap/xml. This was one of our
biggest strengths and advantages and it would propagate to Linux distros, shared hosting, etc..
Therefore, I think we should move towards bundling some of the key extensions to ensure they are
easily found by people esp. when people are getting them via third parties.
For starters I would bundle ext/mongo which is very well maintained; see if we can get
"thrift_protocol" contributed to PECL and included (support HBase and Cassdandra and used
by a few PHP SDKs integrating with these data stores).
In parallel I'd also see if there are any key extensions which we think are mainstream, stable
and well maintained enough to be included. For example, http comes to mind.
Anyway, I am not suggesting we go and include a lot more but I think there are a few key ones, and I
would start with very strong NoSQL support extensions that already exist to ensure the eco-system
picks them up and we make them readily available + get rid of any false perceptions that exist.
Andi