PHP: An overview
PHP stands for PHP: Hypertext Preprocessor and is a side-server scripting language. It is used to create dynamic web pages and in addition to being used as a side-server scripting language it is also used in stand alone graphic applications. Latest and upgraded versions of PHP continued to be released frequently and it is free software which is available for common use.
PHP was first written in C Programming language by a Danish programmer who wrote it as a set of Common Gateway Interface to replace the Perl scripts he had been using for his personal webpage.
PHP is a commonly used scripting language which is used in Web Development and can be embedded into HTML. It runs on a web server and uses PHP as its input and releases a webpage. It can be used on almost all web servers and operating systems and platforms at no cost.
The main focus of PHP is side-scripting and many applications like Wordpress also use PHP and over 19 million webpages are hosted by servers using PHP technology.
PHP can also be used for command line scripting and is used to develop shell and desktop applications and for other system administration tasks. It is a very popular alternative to Microsoft’s ASP and Sun Microsystems JavaServer Pages
Object oriented programming was brought into PHP in the 3rd version and there have been constant updates since then. The feature set has been constantly expanded which has enhanced and optimized performance. It allows people to write extensions in C language which can then be compiled into PHP or loaded dynamically at runtime. Developers can also analyze PHP code and detect software bugs and bottlenecks that may crop up from time to time like APD and Xdebug. There are many code generators which automate general programming tasks and save time and reduce the risk of errors and bugs.
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