PHP?
PHP(Hypertext Pre-processor) is a general-purpose, server-side scripting language. Server-side scripting means processing happens in the server before the client receives the output.
- Used to develop dynamic, interactive websites
- One of the oldest server-side languages featured with HTML embedding
- Regular upgrades, new capabilities
Though the PHP rating has slipped down with the emergence of many other languages, still around 80% of the websites and popular platforms like Facebook and WordPress make use of PHP.
Let us try to list out some top features that make it a popular choice for developers even today.
- Flexibility
PHP is a highly flexible language that empowers programmers to change the code during various development stages. Hence, adding new functionalities and features becomes super easy.
- Platform independent
It integrates seamlessly with many operating systems ( Mac OS, Windows, Linux), web servers, databases and supports popular protocols like HTTP, POP3, LDAP COM, etc. Hence deploying is quite smooth among various platforms at a minimum cost.
- Open source
PHP is a proven reliable open source technology. It is license-free, free of cost, and further reduces development time as it couples with access to a range of PHP frameworks like Symfony and Laravel.
- Secure and fast
The newer versions have remarkable speed and are equipped with efficient tools and frameworks to ensure security, and protection against cyber-attacks. The community support and popularity have led to some of the best practices for fixing vulnerabilities as well.
- Proven practice
For the past 25 years, PHP is tried and tested in almost all real-life situations. Hence most of the bugs are detected and fixed. Over time, it has evolved into a more secure, efficient, and effective way of web development.
Some popular alternatives for PHP include Java, Ruby, and Python.
