What is PHP

PHP was created as a simple scripting platform known as “personal Home Page” in 1994 by Rasmus Lerdorf, but now PHP stands for Hypertext Preprocessor. It is a server script language that is widely used for web development. A survey by W3Tech says that almost 79% of websites are developed by using PHP which makes it the most popular server script language.“Everything needs a language to communicate, even your web”

Now before knowing what makes PHP so special let us know what is Server script language. Web development is basically based on communication and data exchange and this communication takes place via two parties that are Client and the server. The server is responsible for serving the web page according to client requirements and A client is a party that requests a page from the server and displays it to the user.

Now there are many server languages like python, Ruby, JavaScript, etc now let us know what makes PHP so popular.

Benefits of PHP for Web Development

According to PYPL which is Popularity of Programming Language, PHP is the fifth most popular coding language in the world, W3Tech data says that 78.9% of all websites use PHP as a server-side programming language, which means that 8 out of 10 websites are using PHP for web development. The two most common and popular examples of software written in PHP are Facebook and WordPress.

There are some reasons that make PHP so popular

Open Source

One of the biggest reasons for the popularity of PHP is that it is an open-source web language means it is completely free, one needs to spend nothing to access it. There is no hidden expense in purchasing any licenses or software. So if you are a new web developer and looking for a cost-effective server script language so your answer is PHP.

Wide Selection of Database

A database is important for saving and securing your data, and depending on your budget, work needs, and audience you can select from a variety of Data Base. One can find different types of databases like MySQL, Oracle, DB2, etc, and PHP can connect with any of them. It has built-in modules which can be connected to any database easily.

Easy to use – If you are new in business and looking for a side server language that is easy to understand and use, so your best option is PHP. PHP is considered as one of the easiest web languages. Compared to others PHP does not need manual or intensive studying, it is logical and well organized and a developer with good knowledge can use it easily.

Combinability with HTML

PHP is the language that can be properly embedded with HTML programming language and that is why there is an incredible synergy between these two technologies. Thus it becomes easy to create highly dynamic interfaces. Nearly all website templates are written with HTML so it also becomes easy to integrate with a design solution.

Improve Loading Speed

Now one of the most important factors of a good website is that it should take less time to load, according to google 53% of people leave a website because it takes more than three seconds to load thus quick loading is necessary. PHP uses its own memory so by using it you can make your website load faster as compared to many other technologies.

Dynamic and Flexible

For an ongoing project or for a completed project PHP is most Dynamic and Flexible. First of all, PHP is a cross-platform language means developers can code with any primary operating system like a window, Linux, macOS, etc. besides whether you are building a small website or a large website PHP is flexible for both, Such flexibility is one of the biggest reason for the popularity of PHP.

Tones of Plugins

As we already know that PHP is an open-source platform but it is not the only reason that makes it popular. PHP comes with over 30,000 plugins and themes. There is a whole host of functionality to explore. Not only this but because of being an open-source platform, developers can contribute their plugins and themes as well. That is why as an open-source software PHP is improving.

Secure Language

One of the most important things that we look at before developing a webpage is security because security is a must. PHP comes with security layers that can protect it from viruses and threats, besides its PHP framework’s built-in features protects the web from outside attacks, it is one of the most secure ways of developing a website.

Fast on Server

One of the biggest benefits of PHP is that it uses its own memory, so the workload of the server, as well as the loading time, gets reduced by itself. PHP is considered one of the fastest programming languages, it loads the website easily and fast.

Community Support

Because of all the above features, PHP has become one of the most popular software used by many, thus if you are a new developer and developing a website for a new business so PHP is your best option because here can get a lot of support from the community.

Conclusion

PHP has been a popular server script language for more than two decades now and it is because of the many factors we have discussed. If you want a perfect language to develop your webpage so PHP is your answer.