Fundamentals of Php

History

• Php was originally developed by Danish-Canadian programmer Rasmus Lerdorf in 1993 but the first, stable version Php 1.0 was released on June 8, 1995.

Introduction

• Php has the recursive acronym of ‘Hypertext Pre-Processor’.
• According to W3Techs reports, as of October 2022, “PHP is used by 74.4% of all the websites whose server-side programming language we know”.
• To work with Php, we must have the basic knowledge of HTML, CSS, JavaScript, and Databases but for advanced Php knowledge, we are also the knowledge of Ajax, XML/JSON, jQuery, etc.

Definition

• Php is an open source, interpreted, general purpose, object-oriented, server-side scripting language which is widely used as a powerful software tool in making interactive & dynamic web applications.

Features

• PHP files are saved as a .php extension.
• A PHP file may contain text, HTML, CSS, JavaScript, and PHP codes. In another word, PHP code can be easily embedded within HTML tags and scripts.
• PHP codes are executed on the web server software, and the final result is returned back to the browser as plain HTML to display.
• PHP software is simple, free to download from the official website(https://www.php.net), and easy to learn and use.
• Php supports Loosely Typed Language i.e., in Php a variable is used without declaring its datatype. It will be taken automatically at the time of execution(dynamically) based on the type of data it assigns its value.
• PHP can secure data simply by encrypting it.

Advantage

• Php is an Open-Source scripting language (source codes are freely available on the Web with no licensing fees).
• Php is considered as Platform independent scripting language i.e., PHP is available for Unix, Linux, Windows, Mac OS, and OS/2 and Php Programs are portable among these platforms. In another word, a Php application developed on, say, Windows platform will typically run on Linux without any significant issues or changes. Php is also compatible with many web servers such as Apache, IIS, etc.
• The scripts written in PHP perform faster operations than those written in other scripting languages like JSP, ASP.NET, and PERL.
• They have strong Third-Party Application Support or leading databases i.e., Php supports for a wide range of different databases, such as MySQL, PostgreSQL, Oracle, SQLite, and Microsoft SQL Server. along with XML.
• Since, Php has a large community of developers hence novice developers have a wide range of significant benefits because the updating of documentation, tutorials, online help, new technologies, source codes, FAQs, etc. from the community occurs regularly. 

Disadvantage

• Php is used to develop mainly online/web applications.
• Since it is open source hence it is believed that it is a little less secure, because the ASCII text file of Php is often easily available on the web. 
• It has a weak and old data type.
• It is practically not suitable for developing giant content-based web applications. 
• PHP has a smaller number of debugging tools.
• Php has a poor quality of handling errors/exceptions.

Use/Application

• Php is mostly used to develop Interactive and Dynamic Web Applications.

Hardware & Software Requirements

Hardware Requirements for Php

• • CPU/Processor: Any typical x86 or x64 processor.
  • RAM : 512 MB (minimum) but 1 GB (recommended).
  • Hard Disk: Practically 1 GB.
  • I/O Devices: Normal.

Software Requirements for Php

• • Php : 5.3.3 Version/Upgrade.
  • Operating System : MS-Windows XP SP3(for lower Php version)/ Upper MS Windows or Linux/Unix or Mac etc.
  • Web Server : Apache Tomcat or any other.
  • Web Browser : Google Chrome or any other.
  • Editor : Notepad or any other.
  • Database : MySql or any other. [Optional, Necessary for Database-related functionalities].

Set Up to Install Php Application

• To install Php in a System Individually 

  • Install Php individually.
  • Install a Web Server, say Apache, individually.
  • Install a Database, such as MySQL individually [when database required].

and finally, configure all these to work properly.

• OR Install any one popular Php Bundle/Package/IDE in a System [Combination of Php+Apache+MySql]

  • Install Xampp Server [for MS-Windows OS]

  • Install Wamp Server [for MS-Windows OS]

  • Install NetBeans IDE [for MS-Windows OS]