I've been working with PHP for a very long time and apart from web it is also very good at writing shell scripts too.
One of my recent project called 'howdoi' (1) is written in less than 70 lines of code (ignoring ws) - no libraries, no deps and backward comptabile to 5.0. Just copy-paste the file and it's go! If you know how to use it, it's really useful language.
I'm really surprised that PHP hasn't picked up in this area. It's a great tool when you're too big for bash, but not big enough for, well, a "more proper" language...
because it does not feel right to put <?php after shebang. seriously, I hate it. It's like using a wine bottle as a hammer. it works great, try it, but it will never feel right
One of my recent project called 'howdoi' (1) is written in less than 70 lines of code (ignoring ws) - no libraries, no deps and backward comptabile to 5.0. Just copy-paste the file and it's go! If you know how to use it, it's really useful language.
(1) https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=23230157