PHP is commonly referred to as a general-purpose scripting language that helps in web development. Most Universities teach PHP as an integral part of web development. It is an essential part of web designing and allows the developer to develop a robust back-end. Many beginners prefer PHP as their programming language to build back-end applications.
PHP offers many possibilities for back-end development and allows developers to develop these applications with ease. Learning PHP is easy and fun. You can term PHP as a server-side scripting language as it helps in managing dynamic contents, session tracking, maintaining websites, and supporting developing an entire website. PHP is embedded with HTML to bring out its best and help the server responses. You can also look for various database support as PHP is integrated with numerous popular databases like PostgreSQL, MySQL, Oracle, Microsoft SQL Server, and many more.
PHP is famous for its ease of use and support for databases and handling server-side interpretation. It stands for Hypertext Preprocessor that allows server-side scripting and interpretation to be easy-going in delivering the response to the user requests sent. One must know that PHP is not a part of your browser but a back-end supporter that helps interpret and provide responses. Altogether you can say that it creates a responsive atmosphere and helps to build your websites successfully.
PHP’s five vital characteristics that make it popular are Simplicity, Efficiency, Security, Flexibility, and Familiarity. It supports a large number of essential protocols such as IMAO, LDAP, and POP3. It supports n-tier development with the help of PHP4 that supports Java and distributed object architectures like COM and COBRA, making it possible for the first time.
PHP does system functions like create, open, read, write, and close the files on a system. It can handle forms. You can also modify, delete the data or elements within your database through PHP. It also supports accessing cookie variables and helps to set cookies. PHP can also encrypt data and provides the admin with authority to restrict users from accessing some of the pages from your website.
Three crucial components should be installed for a PHP web page to run smoothly. They are a web server, database, and PHP parser. Eight data types in PHP help to define the variables. These include integers, doubles, booleans, NULL, strings, arrays, objects, and resources. PHP is whitespace insensitive and is case-sensitive.
Example of a PHP file:
<?php
Echo “Hello World!!”;
?>
When you run the above file in the command prompt, that is, example.php, which looks like this: $php example.php, you get the output as Hello World!!
Learning PHP may help you understand the back-end processes and database management for the websites. Learning PHP as a primary back-end development language may help you understand the complex frameworks that help in back-end implementation. You can assume PHP as one of the fundamental building blocks of web development. To become a master in PHP, get into free PHP courses online. Grab these Free PHP Courses offered by Great Learning and attain your certificates of completion.