All you need to know about PHP  

If you’re a web developer, you probably know what is available in the world of web development. Howbeit, even the best web developers are found glassy-eyed when it comes to selecting the best programming language among hundreds of options. 

As a professional, if you’re up to delivering the best open-source development services, you need to make sure that you know your cards before you play them!  

Learned professionals gain the trust of their clients and deliver the best services to them. Now, if you’re a learned web developer, you must be well-acquainted with the glory of PHP as a programming language. 

What is PHP?

A short and sweet rundown of PHP:  

 	
 PHP is an acronym for “Hypertext Processor.”
 	
 It is widely used in small and large industrial applications and known as an open-source scripting language.
 	
 PHP scripts are executed directly on the server end. 
 	
 Its compilers and extensions are free to download and use. 
 	
 Like any other staple scripting language, PHP allows software developers to directly integrate logic into the creation of web page content and efficiently manage data returned from a web browser.

Main functions of PHP

PHP can seamlessly perform the following functions:  

 	
 Generating dynamic page content that is easily updatable.
 	
 Creating, opening, reading, writing, and terminating files on the server. 
 	
 Ability to collect form data (a popular application, by the way!). 
 	
 Sending and receiving cookies.
 	
 Controlling user access. 
 	
 Encrypting sensitive user data.

What are the advantages of using PHP?

Before diving into the business-level advantages of PHP, let us look at a few of its leading qualities as a server-side programming language:  

PHP has cross-platform applications and runs on Windows, Linux, Unix, Mac OS X, and many other supported operating systems. 

 	
 It is compatible with nearly all modern servers (e.g., Apache, IIS, etc.) 
 	
 It is open-source and free to use. Download it officially at https://php.net. 
 	
 PHP is easy to learn and modulates on the server-side efficiently.

PHP Code is flexible and integrative

As highlighted earlier, PHP code is a cross-platform. You can run and deploy PHP on major operating systems such as Windows, Unix, Linux, and macOS. But did you know that PHP’s server-side versatility is even better?  

PHP’s backend supports servers like Apache, Microsoft IIS, Netscape, iPlanet, Caudium, Xitami, and Tornado, along with more than 20 databases like MySQL, MongoDB, PostgreSQL, and many more.  

With PHP, businesses can seamlessly build cross-platform applications without worrying about compatibility errors. Organizations can now leverage existing tech infrastructure with little to no experience. 

7 Global Websites That Use PHP

1. Facebook 

Perhaps the most notorious social media web application with more than 1.49 billion active users, Facebook was developed primarily using PHP. 

2. Wikipedia 

Wikipedia is perhaps one of the most visited public information sites that uses PHP as a programming language along with MySQL/MariaDB as their database backend. 

3. Tumblr 

The birthplace of memes: The Tumblr community has generated over 325 million blogs and 555 million monthly visitors. 

4. Slack 

Established as the go-to team communications app in 2009, Slack’s valuation hovered around 4 billion dollars and is actively used by over 3 million users daily. 

5. WordPress 

Ultimately, it’s no surprise that the largest content management system uses PHP to interact with databases and fetch data. In short, PHP is used to fetch key components from the database and output them as static HTML. 

If you want to build your own web shop or have questions relating to e-commerce development platforms or apps, read our blog posts for Shopify and Shopware. Our dedicated outsourcing team can be your collaborator in e-commerce.