What is PHP? If you’ve use the internet, the chances you’ve come across a site designed with PHP are very high, but you’ve probably never even realized it. In fact, such a large portion of the web uses PHP that the web as we know it today would probably not look the same without it. PHP in its most simple definition, is a programming language used to help build powerful websites, applications, and tools for use on the internet. Have you heard of HTML? If so, you probably won’t have a hard time understanding what makes PHP possible. However, if you’ve never heard of either HTML or PHP, then no worries. It is not as complicated as it may sound. In fact, to use PHP, you don’t even need to know a thing about it. Most web hosting providers provide PHP web hosting that can be up and running in seconds without worrying about any of the details.
PHP is a type of server side scripting language that was designed for use in web design to produce something called a dynamic web page. Like HTML, PHP was one of the first types of code designed to be used to create web pages. PHP was also one of the first server side scripting languages that was developed that could be embedded into a source document of an HTML file, rather than having to call another external file to analyse the data used on the world wide web. In fact, many of the most popular website packages available today use PHP as a foundation. Packages like WordPress, Drupal, Joomla, and phpBB all use PHP as their primary programming language.
PHP was first created in 1995 and has had a fundamental hold on the internet ever since. This is due, in no small part, to its ease of use, and as a result, it was adopted by many major platform designers. The latest version of PHP comes with many tools and libraries that let you build incredibly powerful websites with very little effort. In fact, most major web hosting providers provide PHP web hosting as a basic level service, so you’ll never have to worry about them being compatible with your site. In fact, all of the web hosting providers in our overall top 10 web hosting providers list are very capable PHP web hosting providers. Like many programming languages, PHP is not 100% foolproof. According to the National Vulnerability Database, roughly 30% of all vulnerabilities that the database is aware of are linked to PHP. Most of these vulnerabilities are caused by individuals not following basic programming rules to ensure security. However, if one is disciplined and follows these rules, PHP works beautifully. Its no wonder why so much of the world wide web is based on it, even to this day.
So, if you’re planning to design a new website, why not consider PHP as your programming language platform? You could definitely do a lot worse!
