{"id":13486,"date":"2022-12-13T12:32:01","date_gmt":"2022-12-13T11:32:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/da-manager.com\/blog\/?p=13486"},"modified":"2024-05-03T15:56:11","modified_gmt":"2024-05-03T14:56:11","slug":"php-the-beginners-guide","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/da-manager.com\/blog\/php-the-beginners-guide\/","title":{"rendered":"What is PHP? [The Beginner&#8217;s Guide]"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"ez-toc-container\" class=\"ez-toc-v2_0_83 counter-hierarchy ez-toc-counter ez-toc-grey ez-toc-container-direction\">\n<div class=\"ez-toc-title-container\">\n<p class=\"ez-toc-title\" style=\"cursor:inherit\">Table of Contents<\/p>\n<span class=\"ez-toc-title-toggle\"><\/span><\/div>\n<nav><ul class='ez-toc-list ez-toc-list-level-1 ' ><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-1\" href=\"https:\/\/da-manager.com\/blog\/php-the-beginners-guide\/#What_is_PHP\" >What is PHP?<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-2\" href=\"https:\/\/da-manager.com\/blog\/php-the-beginners-guide\/#What_does_PHP_stand_for\" >What does PHP stand for?<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-3\" href=\"https:\/\/da-manager.com\/blog\/php-the-beginners-guide\/#What_is_PHP_used_for\" >What is PHP used for?<\/a><ul class='ez-toc-list-level-3' ><li class='ez-toc-heading-level-3'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-4\" href=\"https:\/\/da-manager.com\/blog\/php-the-beginners-guide\/#Server-Side_Scripting_Writing_Desktop_Application\" >Server-Side Scripting (Writing Desktop Application)<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-3'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-5\" href=\"https:\/\/da-manager.com\/blog\/php-the-beginners-guide\/#Command-Line_Scripting\" >Command-Line Scripting<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-3'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-6\" href=\"https:\/\/da-manager.com\/blog\/php-the-beginners-guide\/#Writing_Desktop_Application\" >Writing Desktop Application<\/a><\/li><\/ul><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-7\" href=\"https:\/\/da-manager.com\/blog\/php-the-beginners-guide\/#Advantages_of_PHP\" >Advantages of PHP<\/a><ul class='ez-toc-list-level-3' ><li class='ez-toc-heading-level-3'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-8\" href=\"https:\/\/da-manager.com\/blog\/php-the-beginners-guide\/#It_is_cross-platform\" >It is cross-platform:<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-3'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-9\" href=\"https:\/\/da-manager.com\/blog\/php-the-beginners-guide\/#Its_open_source\" >Its open source:<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-3'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-10\" href=\"https:\/\/da-manager.com\/blog\/php-the-beginners-guide\/#Many_developers_understand_it\" >Many developers understand it:<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-3'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-11\" href=\"https:\/\/da-manager.com\/blog\/php-the-beginners-guide\/#It_works_brilliantly_with_HTML\" >It works brilliantly with HTML:<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-3'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-12\" href=\"https:\/\/da-manager.com\/blog\/php-the-beginners-guide\/#As_a_language_PHP_relatively_easy_to_learn\" >As a language, PHP relatively easy to learn<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-3'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-13\" href=\"https:\/\/da-manager.com\/blog\/php-the-beginners-guide\/#There_are_plenty_of_tools_available\" >There are plenty of tools available:<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-3'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-14\" href=\"https:\/\/da-manager.com\/blog\/php-the-beginners-guide\/#PHP_offers_a_great_websites_load_time\" >PHP offers a great websites load time:<\/a><\/li><\/ul><\/li><\/ul><\/nav><\/div>\n\r\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">No doubt you may have come across the letter PHP on the Internet or heard someone talk about it, and you might be wondering what PHP is. In this post, I will give you an overview of what PHP as a programming language is about. <\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"What_is_PHP\"><\/span>What is PHP?<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">PHP is a server-based, open-source, high-level programming language. It can be applied to the development of websites, Web Apps, Customer Relationship Management systems, and Content Management Systems (CMS). <\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">It is a generally accepted language that can be included in HTML. Since its compatibility with HTML, PHP has continued to be a favorite among developers because it simplifies HTML coding.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n<div id=\"rank-math-faq\" class=\"rank-math-block\">\n<div class=\"rank-math-list \">\n<div id=\"faq-question-1676403339954\" class=\"rank-math-list-item\">\n<h2 class=\"rank-math-question \"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"What_does_PHP_stand_for\"><\/span>What does PHP stand for?<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n<div class=\"rank-math-answer \">\n\n<p>Originally, it stood for &#8220;Personal Home Page.&#8221; But since it is not restricted to the creation of web home pages, the abbreviation has been altered.\u00a0 It now stands for &#8220;PHP: Hypertext Pre-processor.&#8221; As of 2022, there have been 8 iterations of PHP since its initial release, with version 8.1 currently being the most widely used.<\/p>\n\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\r\n\r\n\r\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"What_is_PHP_used_for\"><\/span>What is PHP used for?<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">PHP is used in three main areas these includes:<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\r\n<li>Server-Side Scripting<\/li>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n<li>Command-Line Scripting<\/li>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n<li>Writing Desktop Application<\/li>\r\n<\/ul>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Server-Side_Scripting_Writing_Desktop_Application\"><\/span>Server-Side Scripting (Writing Desktop Application)<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h3>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">PHP&#8217;s key advantage is server-side scripting. PHP is a fantastic language to learn if you are just starting to code and want to investigate server-side scripting. A PHP parser, web server, and web browser are required in order to get started with PHP server-side scripting.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n<figure class=\"wp-block-gallery has-nested-images columns-default is-cropped wp-block-gallery-1 is-layout-flex wp-block-gallery-is-layout-flex\">\r\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\" style=\"max-width:448px\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"811\" height=\"524\" data-id=\"13497\" src=\"https:\/\/da-manager.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/12\/server-side-scripting-1.jpg\" alt=\"server storage with arrow directing to the internet \" class=\"wp-image-13497\" srcset=\"https:\/\/da-manager.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/12\/server-side-scripting-1.jpg 811w, https:\/\/da-manager.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/12\/server-side-scripting-1-300x194.jpg 300w, https:\/\/da-manager.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/12\/server-side-scripting-1-768x496.jpg 768w, https:\/\/da-manager.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/12\/server-side-scripting-1-600x388.jpg 600w, https:\/\/da-manager.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/12\/server-side-scripting-1-150x97.jpg 150w, https:\/\/da-manager.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/12\/server-side-scripting-1-696x450.jpg 696w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 811px) 100vw, 811px\" \/><\/figure>\r\n<\/figure>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Command-Line_Scripting\"><\/span>Command-Line Scripting<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h3>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">For users coming from the Linux OS. Linux Cron or Task Scheduler Scripts (Windows), command-line scripting is recommended. PHP is excellent for that task, and it is also suitable for basic text processing.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Writing_Desktop_Application\"><\/span>Writing Desktop Application<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h3>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Although PHP may not be the ideal language to utilize when developing desktop programs, it gives skilled web developers many more possibilities than its rivals.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/study.com\/academy\/lesson\/what-is-php-used-for-uses-advantages.html\" data-type=\"URL\" data-id=\"https:\/\/study.com\/academy\/lesson\/what-is-php-used-for-uses-advantages.html\" target=\"_blank\">Other use of PHP<\/a><strong> <\/strong>includes, but is not limited to sending and receiving cookies, encrypting user data, and collecting form data.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The fact that PHP is compatible with most of the major operating systems allows you to code regardless of the technology you are using, which is one of the key qualities that makes it so usable.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Advantages_of_PHP\"><\/span>Advantages of PHP<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Due to the many advantages PHP provides consumers and developers, it has maintained its popularity for decades. These are the most important:<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\r\n<li>It is a cross-platform<\/li>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n<li>Its open source<\/li>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n<li>Many developers understand it <\/li>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n<li>It works brilliantly with HTML<\/li>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n<li>As a language PHP relatively easy to learn<\/li>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n<li>There are plenty of tools available to assist its use<\/li>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n<li>PHP offers a great websites load time<\/li>\r\n<\/ul>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"It_is_cross-platform\"><\/span>It is cross-platform:<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h3>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">You don&#8217;t need to be concerned about compatibility because PHP can be used with any significant operating system. This also means that you can work on a project team and not have to worry about members being able to access code<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Its_open_source\"><\/span>Its open source:<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h3>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Because PHP is open source, you can construct your project without worrying about additional fees because it is a free programming language.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Many_developers_understand_it\"><\/span>Many developers understand it:<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h3>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The longevity of PHP means there\u2019s already a large community out there to support you, and a lot of legacy code to help you get started with projects.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"It_works_brilliantly_with_HTML\"><\/span>It works brilliantly with HTML:<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h3>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Your tasks can be made simpler with PHP, which integrates well with this popular programming language.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"As_a_language_PHP_relatively_easy_to_learn\"><\/span>As a language, PHP relatively easy to learn<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h3>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"There_are_plenty_of_tools_available\"><\/span>There are plenty of tools available:<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h3>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">For PHP, there are tools available to assist with practically anything, including integration, code hints, syntax highlighting, and more.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"PHP_offers_a_great_websites_load_time\"><\/span>PHP offers a great websites load time:<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h3>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">PHP&#8217;s <a href=\"https:\/\/da-manager.com\/blog\/6-tips-to-reduce-your-webpage-speed-load-time\/\" data-type=\"URL\" data-id=\"https:\/\/da-manager.com\/blog\/6-tips-to-reduce-your-webpage-speed-load-time\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">short load time<\/a> can actually assist in improving your website performance as it becomes more and more correlated with speed.&nbsp;<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n<figure class=\"wp-block-gallery has-nested-images columns-default is-cropped wp-block-gallery-2 is-layout-flex wp-block-gallery-is-layout-flex\">\r\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\" style=\"max-width:552px\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"538\" data-id=\"13499\" src=\"https:\/\/da-manager.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/12\/facebooks-page-load-tme-1024x538.jpg\" alt=\"facebook's page speed result on Gt-metrics\" class=\"wp-image-13499\" srcset=\"https:\/\/da-manager.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/12\/facebooks-page-load-tme-1024x538.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/da-manager.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/12\/facebooks-page-load-tme-300x158.jpg 300w, https:\/\/da-manager.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/12\/facebooks-page-load-tme-768x403.jpg 768w, https:\/\/da-manager.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/12\/facebooks-page-load-tme-600x315.jpg 600w, https:\/\/da-manager.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/12\/facebooks-page-load-tme-150x79.jpg 150w, https:\/\/da-manager.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/12\/facebooks-page-load-tme-696x365.jpg 696w, https:\/\/da-manager.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/12\/facebooks-page-load-tme-1068x561.jpg 1068w, https:\/\/da-manager.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/12\/facebooks-page-load-tme.jpg 1200w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><\/figure>\r\n<\/figure>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Conclusion: In Summary, learning PHP is still a useful investment for developers since PHP can be developed using already-made components or&nbsp;<a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/www.educba.com\/top-php-frameworks\/\" target=\"_blank\">Frameworks<\/a>&nbsp;such as Laravel, CakePHP, CodeIgniter, and Symfony.&nbsp;Till date Companies like Facebook, Wikipedia,&nbsp;<a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/wordpress.com\/\" target=\"_blank\">WordPress&nbsp;<\/a>and Slack still use PHP.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><\/p>\r\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>PHP is a server-based, open-source, high-level programming language that can be included in HTML. it is applied in website development, web apps, content management system (CMS) and customer relationship management system (CRM). PHP stand for &#8220;PHP: Hypertext Preprocessor.&#8221; formally it was called \u2026..<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":13494,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"no","_lmt_disable":"no","_mbp_gutenberg_autopost":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[147,3353],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-13486","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-general","category-website-development"],"modified_by":"Wise","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/da-manager.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13486","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/da-manager.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/da-manager.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/da-manager.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/da-manager.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=13486"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/da-manager.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13486\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/da-manager.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/13494"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/da-manager.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=13486"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/da-manager.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=13486"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/da-manager.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=13486"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}