programmers

Rapid application development tools are great. Visual Basic, Delphi, etc. are great at cutting development time for complex applications through their use of reusable components.

Reusable components (I will refer to them as "controls" from here on) are simply pre-built pieces of programming code designed to perform a specific function. When designing an application in a visual environment, controls can be quickly dropped into the design, and modified to fit the task at hand. Most of the controls you'll find are designed to handle such tasks as pushbuttons, menus, text labels, and so forth. As a developer, you only need to write code to "glue" them into your application, and develop the interactions between controls.

The architect without the stonemason is not designing cathedrals, but castles in the air. —Gerald Weinberg
How important are software design skills to a programmer? Programmers, in the traditional, and perhaps most widespread, view of the software development process, are not themselves seen as designers but rather as people who implement the designs of other people. The job of the programmer, after all, is to write code. Code is viewed as a "construction" activity, and everyone knows you have to complete the design before beginning construction. The real design work is performed by specialized software designers. Designers create the designs and hand them off to programmers, who turn them into code according to the designer’s specifications. In this view, then, the programmer only needs enough design skills to understand the designs given to him. The programmer’s main job is to master the tools of her trade.

How important are software design skills to a programmer? Programmers, in the traditional, and perhaps most widespread, view of the software development process, are not themselves seen as designers but rather as people who implement the designs of other people. The job of the programmer, after all, is to write code. Code is viewed as a "construction" activity, and everyone knows you have to complete the design before beginning construction. The real design work is performed by specialized software designers. Designers create the designs and hand them off to programmers, who turn them into code according to the designer’s specifications. In this view, then, the programmer only needs enough design skills to understand the designs given to him. The programmer’s main job is to master the tools of her trade.

PHP gives you the flexibility of creating and adding extensions, which can enhance functionality and even automate redundant tasks
If you develop data driven websites then there are certain things you have to repeat. For instance, for each and every transaction with the database, you have to create a connection, log on to it, perform certain transactions and then disconnect. This not only consumes a lot of your precious time, but also efforts. You can automate this task by creating custom extensions in PHP.