Either working with PHP for 21 years is not long enough or simply too long. I honestly think these small inconsistencies are irrelevant in the big picture of building something complex. Like you said, programmers should deal with them. It just doesn't sound like a big deal.

> I honestly think these small inconsistencies are irrelevant in the big picture of building something complex.

Big picture is PHP is a poor tool. I enumerated only one annoyance about writing software on PHP, 80% of all websites on the web being built on it doesn't make it any better. Some companies keep building on it, because:

1. They started writing the codebase in PHP, now they are "locked" (cost of switching to another language is extremely high)

2. Hiring PHP developers usually costs a lot less (at least 20%) than say Java/Python developers

People keep arguing that, for seasoned developers it doesn't matter what tool one chooses. Then what is the point of choosing a tool over another, if you gotta check the docs constantly for inconsistencies? (I'm sorry, you gotta use IDE anyways)

With that said, there is no ideal language, however PHP is single most annoying language after JavaScript.