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Overview:

* Known worldwide, the PHP language was created in 1994, went through different updates, and today is in version 7.2;

* The programming language is lightweight and widely used in building websites and web solutions, such as retail;

* See below how the language works and what its advantages are.

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Have you heard of the PHP language? Popular in past decades, this programming language continues to be widely used in different websites and web solutions, mainly because of its advantages compared to other languages on the market.

Lighter and with good server integration on the back-end, PHP can support a large number of visual resources without compromising the user experience with freezes and slowness.

Want to know how PHP was developed and its real advantages compared to other technologies?

Read the article below and see why PHP is still used.

When did PHP emerge?

In 1994, programmer Rasmus Lerdorf created PHP with the goal of tracking access to his résumé on the internet.

Simple for beginners and complete for professional programmers, PHP soon became one of the most used languages worldwide, mainly because it offers a common language and many possible resources.

Over time, new capabilities were added to the tool, with evolutions such as an implementation in C, enabling dynamic websites—motivated by Rasmus’ original goal.

In the following year, 1995, PHP/FI (Personal Home Pages / Forms Interpreter) was made available on the web so other people could benefit from it, offering bug fixes and compatibility with different servers in an Open Source model.

In 1997, two programmers completely reworked the code and released PHP3, changing the name to PHP HyperText Preprocessor.

With this change, PHP became object-oriented and gained support for new protocols.

PHP4 was released two years later, in 1999, enabling greater interaction with other web components. Five years later, another update: PHP5.

At that time, developers implemented new visibility for interfaces and constructors and fixed some issues from the previous version. Today, PHP is in version 7, bringing performance improvements and greater stability.

How does PHP work?

Restrictions or rigid directives are not PHP’s main focus. PHP is a tool that enables the creation of websites and interaction with users through reports.

In general, PHP is a free language, with no fees or costs to install in operating systems, enabling interaction through data and applications available on the server.

The scripting language is also used together with HTML, the markup language used to build web pages. When a user accesses a website, the PHP code is executed and generates HTML code, which is returned to the user as the loaded page.

In other words, PHP processes the information and returns to the user’s browser the result of the interpretation, which is then displayed as HTML.

Installing the interpreter, a web server, and a database is the first step to getting started with this programming environment with broad functionality. PHP supports protocols and complex data import, including WDDX (Web Distributed Data eXchange), a neutral data interchange format for different virtual environments.

Still on communication between data mechanisms, PHP is a domain-specific language designed to implement fast, simple, and efficient solutions.

Even though it was released many years ago, PHP was part of one of the main constructions of the internet: Facebook.

Facebook engineers aim to make PHP run faster and faster to keep up with user demand.

With the help of the HipHop Compiler—a compiler designed to translate PHP—the goal is to achieve higher performance at scale.

In addition to being familiar in the Facebook ecosystem, PHP is part of the LAMP stack: Linux, Apache, MariaDB or MySQL, and PHP (or Python)—a proposal of free and open-source software.

When is it recommended?

Because it easily connects to servers and the back-end side of projects, PHP is widely used in websites and web applications.

This happens frequently because the language implementation brings more dynamism to pages and faster response times to user commands, reducing system load.

With that, it’s possible to build websites with excellent performance, even with a large number of resources.

Because it is easy to implement in web solutions, WordPress adopted the language and developed its entire platform based on PHP, especially the additional plugins offered by the tool.

In addition, it’s very common for e-commerce stores to use PHP to build their products, since they need to add a large amount of resources and information—and that can’t harm the user experience.

Despite seeming like an outdated and old programming language, a survey by W3Techs found that around 79% of all websites that use servers are developed with PHP.

What are the advantages of using PHP?

1. Supports a large amount of data

As mentioned above, one of the main advantages of PHP is its support for a large amount of information. Especially for visual aspects, one of developers’ concerns is whether their site will offer a good user experience and handle multiple accesses.

Because of that, PHP is recommended precisely because it offers strong support and good performance in these cases.

2. Compatible with several databases

Another interesting advantage of using PHP in web systems is the easy connection with traditional databases in the technology world.

Without restricting system performance, PHP supports databases such as MySQL, Oracle, Interbase, Sybase, and SQLite.

3. Easy to learn

Especially for those who are just starting in system development, PHP is one of the entry points. Because it has a simpler, more direct, and objective syntax, programming in PHP is considered easier than many other options.

In addition, you can find countless materials on the web—tutorials, free classes—because there is a large community that still develops in PHP today.

4. Open source

Following that reasoning, PHP is an open-source programming language, further facilitating integration between developers and strengthening the community.

For those who work independently, PHP has no costs for those who want to use it. That means you can build your own systems and web applications without paying anything for it.

This advantage is also good for the language’s own evolution, since it continues to receive updates and new resources that improve the experience for end users and developers.

Conclusion

PHP is one of the most intuitive languages available. It can be used by experienced developers or beginners entering the professional universe.

Because it is lighter than many other languages in the technology market, PHP has a series of advantages and is used by large companies to build web solutions that require a large number of resources.

So, what do you think about building a web system for your company and growing your business significantly?

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