> That's not to say PHP isn't been overcomplicating itself & hasn't fully embraced why it's so succesfull and improved that part: it's easy & practical.
Do you have specific examples for things where PHP has been overcomplicating itself? Most complex things seem to actually make things easier for newbies (e.g. typing can be a great help).
And as a legacy dev you can just ignore all of those new things. You do not have to use lavarel or any of the latest, greatest frameworks or features. Your code from 15years ago will just work as well.
Do you have specific examples for things where PHP has been overcomplicating itself? Most complex things seem to actually make things easier for newbies (e.g. typing can be a great help).