Good luck productively programming (with test suites, build tools, etc) on your ipad. Good luck playing high-end games on your ipad. Good luck playing any RTS or FPS on your ipad. Good luck reading anything for more than an hour on your ipad.

I've been reading a lot of PHP bashing blogs lately and they all share the same problem. The problem with blogs like this one and especially "PHP: A Fractal of Bad Design" is that people bashing PHP don't actually know much about PHP (i.e. almost every statement on that fractal blog post is wrong, good explanation here: http://blog.ircmaxell.com/2012/04/php-sucks-but-i-like-it.html). It's ironic how people can make sarcastic remarks like this "“well hey what’s the problem with these tools? They’re all I’ve ever used and they work fine!”" and yet they're actually the same, just with another toolbox in another playground. If anyone has a good explanation on why PHP is bad, without all the snobbyst remarks and assumptions, with actual proper knowledge and experience with the language he's analysing, ideally from someone who works with it right now (no, hacking up PHP4 code in high school doesn't count), please don't hesitate to share it.

These methods only fit if you're a google level company. i.e. you can 1.) Afford the risk of filtering out a good candidate (which is bound to happen with the way you interview) 2.) Afford the high paycheck that anyone who passes this gauntlet deserves. If you're not, then please burn in hell. I always hated small-time startups taking more time to hire than it would to actually develop their project.