[split] Composer?

@idealcastle

"When libraries force you to use composer, you can no longer directly install the code on your platform without serious modification."

- I've got familiar with three kinds of libraries in this regard:

1. There are libraries that offer Composer and manual installation. In case of manual installation they even can be shipped with their own autoloader. Examples: https://github.com/PHPMailer/PHPMailer/tree/v5.2.14 , https://github.com/oyejorge/less.php/tree/v1.7.0.9

2. Libraries that recommend Composer installation only. Probably they might be installed manually, but with much efforts. Example: https://github.com/guzzle/guzzle/tree/6.1.1 In this particular case let us suppose that you badly need asynchronous HTTP requests that this library is capable to provide. Suddenly Composer will become your friend.

3. Libraries that depend on other libraries (or components, or packages, if you like). Then Composer is the only practical way for installation. It would be better if it resolves the dependencies automatically. The third-part author controls this, indeed. Dependencies might be wise or weird. For "weird" I will not give a direct link here for not causing embarrassment, only I would quote my complain "Why composer installs so many dependencies just for using a 129-lines script?". Yes, Composer allows doing stupid thinks as any other tool does. Here you will discriminate not on "Compiser packaging" but on the quality of a given library.

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"I'm not saying composer is a bad thing, I like full control, I don't need some program telling me which versions of libraries I need, I can do that myself, so for that I just don't need to use composer."

If Composer is active on your system it will not stop doing that. And if for a particular case your mind gets shifted, Composer will help.

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"I rather download direct code, integrate with my project and move forward, composer is like a "magic" functionality, you can't exactly see whats going on, you just hope it works."

About the "magic": I suspect that some people make "composer update" on the production server. Well, don't. Do "composer update" on your development environment with versioning control. Check visually what changes are going to be done. Test the system with the new changes. If they are not ok, revert modifications or resolve the problems. If they are ok, commit the modifications (the vendors/ directory, composer.json and composer.lock). Then upload the modification on the production server.

Composer is a developer's tool, not a tool for deployment.

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"I dont like that, I get that new programmers love all the help they can get, so composer works, it does the job, it makes things easier. Just like jQuery, if you use only jQuery and rely on only that for functionality, you start forgetting how to do things within javascript alone."

Let us say you work for earning money, otherwise why should you do. Then, everything that saves your time is a priority, in this regard Composer is the top priority.

About the jQuery analogy: I can write in the "pure JavaScript" and in the "jQuery" way. But for example, an AJAX call written in a "pure JavaScript" way is not something practical that you need to know. Life is too short for making this.