PHP (recursive acronym for PHP: Hypertext Preprocessor
) is a widely-used open-source (server-side) general-purpose scripting language that is especially suited for web development and can be embedded into HTML. It is also a general-purpose language that you can use to make lots of projects, including Graphical User Interfaces (GUIs).
Advantages of PHP
PHP has some advantages that have made it so popular, and it’s been the go-to language for web servers for more than 15 years now. Here are some of PHP’s benefits:
- Cross-Platform: PHP is platform-independent. You don’t have to have a particular OS to use it because it runs on every platform, whether it’s Mac, Windows, or Linux.
- Open Source: PHP is open source. The original code is made available to everyone who wants to build upon it. This is one of the reasons why one of its frameworks, Laravel, is so popular.
- Easy to learn: PHP is not hard to learn for absolute beginners. You can pick it up pretty if you already have programming knowledge.
- PHP syncs with all Databases: You can easily connect PHP to all Databases, relational and non-relational. So it can connect in no time to MySQL, Postgress, MongoDB, or any other database.
- Supportive Community: PHP has a very supportive online community. The official documentation provides guides on how to use the features and you can easily get your problem fixed while stuck.