The one thing I really hate about PHP is lack of baked in async libraries to support web sockets and other network stuff.
We do have openswoole and of course we can write select based I/o pumps to drive network applications - the same way one can do in C (to me PHP is basically like C but with garbage collection and memory safety, long before rust ;)).
PHP is a flexible language that can be used for all sorts utilities and services. Long running daemons, network services and other things you'd find in a copy of Advanced Programming in the UNIX environment.
So what's with all the hate?
Is it not cryptic enough? Not enough supply chain vulnerabilities? Too broadly supported across many, many platforms? Too easy for a novice to pick up and run with?
I first gained C exposure in the mid 90s with a copy of SCO Xenix. Picking up PHP for web development was super straightforward when I finally adopted it in its 3.x days and today I still enjoy focusing on the problems to solve over fighting my tool chain.
I just don't get why PHP gets such shade.
p.s. check out Delphi. The version 13 just came out and looks pretty good.