PHP stands for Hypertext Preprocessor. Originally developed in 1994 by Rasmus Lerdorf, it was initially called “Personal Home Page”. Since its creation, PHP has continued to be a very popular and well-established server-side, open-source scripting language to code dynamically generated web pages.
It is a server-side programming language. It means that when a web page designed in PHP code is requested, the PHP module present on the web server processes the code and then PHP pre-processor generates the plain HTML output to be sent and displayed on the user’s browser.
PHP can be easily combined with a lot of popular databases including Microsoft SQL Server, Oracle, Sybase, MySQL, PostgreSQL, etc. The present major version of PHP is 7.
PHP is an interpreted language which means that any changes made to the source code can be spontaneously tested without first having to compile the source code into binary form. This skipping of the compilation step results in a faster development process.
As of now, 80% of websites whose server-side language is known are designed using PHP.
Benefits of PHP:
Easy to Use: PHP is easy to learn and implement. Furthermore, PHP programmers can take care of the tasks such as updating already functioning website, expanding functionalities, in a convenient manner. Additionally, PHP supports widely used content management systems, for example, Drupal, WordPress and Joomla, running effectively on the server end.
Economical: Due to its open source nature, PHP can be used to develop a website or web solution with minimal costs. It can be downloaded and used absolutely freely, so that keeps the development cost to a minimum.
Faster Performance: Apps can be built much faster using powerful PHP frameworks. Additionally, PHP uses its own memory that in turn lessens the loading time noticeably.
Portability: All the major OS like Linux, UNIX, Windows, and MacOS are supported by PHP. Therefore, websites developed using PHP can be easily integrated into almost all the web servers.
Security: PHP has a security layer that offers business owners protection against potential viruses & security threats. To evade common security hazards, developers should practice creating appropriate error reports, deactivate particular features and ensure that users can input the appropriate data only.
Vast Community: A large number of hire PHP developers are always available to share their knowledge & expertise and help with the coding guidelines.
Whatever particular concern or job needs to be taken care of, PHP is a suitable platform to develop a solution. There are many things that can be done with PHP. To name a few:
Generate pages and files dynamically.
Create, open, read, write and close files on the server end.
Collect data from a web form.
Send emails to the users of the website.
Send and receive cookies to track the visitors to the website.
Store, delete and modify information in the database.
Restrict unauthorized access to the website.
Encrypt data to ensure safe transmission over the internet.
Top 10 Popular PHP-based Websites:
This most well-known social networking website was originally developed using PHP. As a matter of fact, Facebook developed a new PHP-derived language known as Hack. Interoperating flawlessly with PHP, it enables developers to continuously update the existing PHP codebase. The investors of Facebook desired to make the development & bug-fixing process simpler, therefore they built a custom version of PHP called HHVM.
Yahoo!
Another popular search engine that is based on PHP. Yahoo was unveiled in 1995 and since then has been continuously helping users to date. This news website clocks over 7 billion views per month and is regarded as the 6th most visited web portal worldwide. Thus proving the reliability of PHP as a programming language for creating large & intricate websites.
Wikipedia
The site without which every research is incomplete. One of the most trustworthy and richest sources of information on the internet is supported by PHP. The adaptable nature of PHP is a major strength of Wiki. WordPress For any avid blogger or blog reader, WordPress is not an unfamiliar website. WordPress is a PHP and MySQL backed open source content management system that is largely related to blogging. This popular content management system drives at least 25% of all websites prevailing on the Internet. WordPress uses the full advantage of PHP features to carry out all of its processing.
Tumblr
Tumblr is listed amongst the top 100 accessed websites in the world. Also written in PHP, it is a social networking platform and enables substantial sharing of texts, videos, and images. PHP acts as a solid foundation of this micro blogging website, equipping it with abundant features & functionalities.
MailChimp
Widely acknowledged for its ease of use and advanced email creation, MailChimp is a famous platform for email marketing that is compatible with several devices & platforms and offers a smooth & pleasant user experience. Due to PHP’s powerful nature, this email marketing tool streamlines the process of building newsletters or campaigns for businesses.
Flickr
Swarmed by almost 90 million users per month, it is a photo0sharing platform that is code based using PHP. Flickr allows users to send and receive text messages from associates and friends. The photos shared by users could be segregated into multiple categories. It also offers various privacy options to customers.
Digg
This website is widely used to share relevant news and engrossing blogs. Given its organizing option, the largely liked stories & posts are listed at the top of a page. PHP afforded Digg all the essential features and footing for proper functioning over the years.
iStockPhoto
Completely free for use, iStockPhoto is a platform where people can get more than 4 million diverse-category illustrations, photos and images. This popular web resource is used worldwide by students, bloggers, and developers. Tendering a set of paramount methods in the web development industry, PHP functioned as a powerful tool for the creation of this website.
Baidu
Successfully competing with Yahoo! China, Google Search, and other search engines, Baidu is a China-based website and search engine that empowers users to gather information and search what they need. This search engine is build using PHP and it is getting continuously improved. The principal features that it offers include information search via toolbar, image and video search as well as online advertising.
PHP is a feature-responsive scripting language that perdures to be used widely in the present world. In this article, we have looked upon some ultra-successful PHP-based web solutions that have continued to rule the Internet. With the help of an experienced web development firm and the right approach, businesses can build powerful websites that would be highly popular among the users. This, in turn, would reap into an improved customer experience and increased return on investment.