What is PHP?

PHP acronym stands for “Hypertext Preprocessor” (originally “Personal Home Page”).

PHP is generally used as server-side programming language that was born in 1995, and it could be said that, along with JavaScript, it is the most popular language in web development. Beside of this it can be used as a general propose language.

It is general-purpose and open-source; it is especially designed for web development, and it can also be embedded in HTML pages.

Example:

<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
   <head>
      <title>Page Title</title>
   </head>
   <body> 
      <?php 
         echo "<h1>My First Heading</h1>";
      ?>
      <p>My first paragraph.</p>
   </body>
</html>

It is also customary to leave the PHP closing tag unclosed when there is only PHP code, and it is considered good practice.

On a website, when an HTTP request is made to a PHP page, the code is processed on the server and returns HTML in response to that request (HTTP response).

Some things created with PHP.

Among the sites created with this language are Facebook (in its early days, and why not today, as it still contains a large part of code written in this language).

Sites created with WordPress (CMS) and on wordpress.com, Drupal (CMS), Joomla (CMS), forums, Wikipedia, Yahoo, etc

Some tools that use PHP

Frameworks: In software development, a framework is a conceptual and technological assistance structure, typically defined with specific software artifacts or modules, that can serve as a base for organizing and developing software.

It typically includes program support, libraries, and an interpreted language, among other tools, to help develop and integrate the different components of a project.

You can use frameworks like Laravel, Symfony, CodeIgniter, Zend, Yii. And finally, if you’re not satisfied with performance, there’s Phalcon, which has really fast speed.

CMS (Content Management System): CMS are content systems like a blog, e-commerce, small social network, etc.

WordPress.org
Drupal
Joomla

Some more reasons why you might choose it for your website.

It works on all types of platforms (Windows, Linux, Mac OS), is compatible with all types of servers, is the language where you will find the most affordable hosting and VPS options, is free, and you can download it directly from the official PHP website (www.php.net).

It is easy to use, has a large community behind it, so any problem you encounter, there are many people who can help you, or you can find answers that other programmers have provided. Lastly, and not least, it is a language that continues to evolve.