Already existing libraries can hurt development. You can liken it to Jeff Atwood saying "Regular Expressions: Now You Have Two Problems". Not only do you have to write your code, but now you have to understand that library and how to use it.<p>Just because their is a library doesn't mean there are any consequences that come with using it. There will come a point where the limit of the library has been reached and you must either A.) contribute to it or B.) if things are proper fucked and you end up writing a custom library<p>Either way making the argument that development is easier because of all the libraries available is like saying, constructing houses is easier because of all the blueprints available. (contrived examples always win)<p>PHP is a fine language along with Ruby, Python, and Javascript. Each have their strengths and weaknesses. No sole language will win all the time.<p>references:
<a href="http://www.codinghorror.com/blog/2008/06/regular-expressions-now-you-have-two-problems.html" rel="nofollow">http://www.codinghorror.com/blog/2008/06/regular-expressions...</a>