PHP: The Coding Language That Secretly Changed a Lot

Newbies are most encouraged to learn JavaScript instead since annual salaries can reach up to $118,000. 

If salaries are the only driving force to which language deserves to be learned, people should know more about PHP to increase its value. 

PHP is actually the main scripting language that powers global websites like WordPress and Facebook. This scripting language deserves to get noticed first for all the right reasons, with it having so many powerful tools that can improve user experience and security. 

Potentially, the developments in PHP can also generate jobs that pay as much as JavaScript users. The only thing needed to be done is to give PHP the attention it deserves. 

If you’re not familiar with this coding language, better read on to learn more about it, how it works, and how it has changed technology as we know it. 

All About PHP

PHP used to stand for Personal Home Page, but now it’s a recursive acronym for Hypertext Processor. 

Rasmus Lerdorf created it in 1994 as a way to track who was looking at his online resume. In 1995, he released the first version known as Personal Home Page Tools. 

Lerdorf encouraged other developers to help enhance and evolve the code for its betterment. True enough, PHP had already extended to a wider public domain in 1997. It was then incorporated into the Apache module, giving birth to PH3, which powered about 10% of the internet websites in the 1990s. 

PH3 further incorporated it into the Zend Engine, which created PH4, the execution engine for Boolean type, used for more complex calculations. 

Today, it’s widely used for open source general-purpose scripting language. One of the main reasons people still use this semi-ancient programming language is that it’s suitable for web development and can be embedded into HTML. 

How It Works

PHP makes it easier for those interested in web development to collect, process, and utilize data to create outputs. If you’re familiar with HTML, it’s not going to be a challenge learning PHP. 

PHP can be used to do anything and everything. But these days, it’s widely used for server-side and command-line scripting and writing desktop applications. 

To differentiate it from HTML, PHP is a scripting language, whereas HTML is a markup language. Meaning PHP provides dynamic content on the web page through scripts, while HTML gives you the web page’s content and structure. 

The PHP software delivers web pages to clients with the webserver since it is a server-side language. Typing a URL into any browser’s address bar sends a message to the webserver through that URL which prompts it to send back an HTML file. The response you get is an HTML file, which is a client-side language.

How PHP Has Changed Technology 

Building a website has become so much easier these days than when it was first introduced to the world. Several developers have made huge breakthroughs in simplifying programs that easily encouraged newbies to get started. 

A handful of these developments are PHP developments. As established, PHP has gone through several developments in past decades, making it abundant in features. 

This versatile and dynamic language supports various programming practices, so it’s the foundation of millions of websites, like Facebook and WordPress. 

It’s also used to facilitate the generation of dynamic page content or the receipt of cookies by web servers. On top of that, PHP is virtually lightweight and can be majorly ported—an advantage many developers want to enjoy. 

In 2020, PHP was integrated with Cloud to build web apps. Around 78.9% of websites use PHP as a server-side programming language. Now, with the integration of Cloud, websites can use a cost-effective web solution for cloud infrastructure. 

PHP web development tools like Codeigniter, CakePHP, and Symfony also make websites more responsive and offer a better user experience. With these tools, websites like Twitter, eBay, and Amazon engage their users more. 

Lastly, PHP has also been responsible for increasing cybersecurity. The various PHP development tools secure websites and applications that assure users they’re not putting themselves in danger just by doing online shopping. 

Codeigniter and Phalcon are PHP frameworks that both add guaranteed encrypting features to websites, improving the security of websites without much fuss. 

There are still countless PHP developments that have brought drastic change to technology—in a good way. The reasons above are just some of the things people should know about PHP to appreciate it better.