Why is PHP such a popular language for web programming? PHP is a server-side scripting language. It is an interpreted language used in web development. While languages such as JavaScript and language frameworks using it have increased in use, PHP has stood the test of time since its inception in the early 1990s. Despite it, PHP is in use widely as it has been implemented as part of many websites from earlier years.
The usage of PHP and implementation has evolved over the years, and its popularity is primarily to its ability of embedding inside HTML code using simple tags. Some of the important features for its wide-scale acceptance are as below:
Open source and community support
PHP is an open-source language, implying it has plenty of support from a community of developers. This includes support for PHP frameworks such as Laravel and Symfony as well. It is also free to install and use, which helps reduce development costs.
Fast, secure, and versatile
PHP is compatible with all the platforms, such as Windows, Linux, and Mac. In addition, it has compatibility with all the major web browsers in use, such as Google Chrome, Apple Safari, etc., which provides ease of adoption and deployment. It is also fast in processing as it is a server-side language using its memory.
Scalability and security
PHP is a very scalable language with many widely used websites such as Facebook, Wikipedia, Yahoo, and Flickr actively using it as of the date in variable proportions. The security of PHP has also improved over the last few years. It is not the most secure language in use, yet, it meets the basic components of security in a web language.
LAMP stack and ease of integration
LAMP is a type of software stack with an acronym for Linux, Apache, MySQL, and PHP. It is all free, and open-source frameworks used together in web development. PHP provides easy integration with HTML web pages, databases, and other server-side frameworks and languages, making it a preferred language choice for web developers.
