On Sundays I coach kids on how to play basketball, and I've noticed something odd.
The kids that show up who can do round-the-back layups and fancy dribbling moves always get surpassed by the end of the season by the kids that learned their fundamentals.
Yes indeed, crazy-layup boy scored 30 points a game, but he couldn't pass or defend, and he let 40 points go in, so he's useless.
You with me here?
Since joining this site, I've helped a few people with their problems and I notice a similar trend.
People come on and say "I'm building a site that will hook up to someone's e-mail and filter the spam and use a socket to connect to a kettle and make them some coffee. Now, how do I set a cookie?" and I just stare in disbelief - they are using code in some places that I don't understand, but they don't know how to create an array or something.
The question is, are these PHP 'fundemental-skippers' going to go the same way as their basketball counter-parts by the end of the season?
Or am I talking crap?