PHP Architect · Vol 25, Issue 1 · January 2026
PHP-FIG - What's Below the Water Keeps Us Afloat
I love to use analogies, and one of the analogies I particularly enjoy using about the PHP community is the iceberg analogy. Icebergs are interesting because only 10% of the icebergs are above the waterline, with the remaining 90% being below. It's like that in the PHP community because most developers just see the part of the iceberg that's above water. Things like the core language, the libraries, frameworks, and CMSs that power the web are part of this visible piece, but there's a lot of it that's hidden from them that make sure these pieces stay afloat.
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