PHP: Hypertext Preprocessor: What is it?
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The name "PHP: Hypertext Preprocessor," commonly referred to as PHP, is a recursive acronym. In other words, PHP refers to itself within its name. This nomenclature is a bit of humor on the part of the Internet-age intellectuals that make up the leadership and development team of the online scripting language.
PHP is an open source programming language primarily implemented on the Internet in websites. Its main purpose is to bring dynamic content to the web pages on which it is implemented. PHP offers a wide array of powerful functions and features that allow those who program with it to achieve almost all of the myriad scripts and applications that you are accustomed to finding on the Internet.
Since its initial development in 1995, PHP has evolved and mutated due to the effort of countless individuals across the world. These professional website developers banded together over the Internet to create what they believed to be the ideal development platform for dynamic websites. Out of their efforts, PHP is now in its fifth release and has become the most used scripting language for web pages.
There is a good reason that PHP has become the premier programming language online. Unlike traditional programming languages, PHP is not as concerned with optimal performance or operation. Rather, the language is designed to be relatively simple to use by even novice developers. Easy-to-use functions provide a great deal of power, allowing scripts to be easy to make and implement. On the other hand, PHP is also dynamic enough that it can be implemented even more effectively by professionals and experts who do desire high levels of performance.
PHP’s level of usage has also helped its growth. As PHP has grown more popular, it became common for website hosts to include it as an installed feature of their website offerings. Developers had easy access to PHP development platforms and quickly discovered that it was far easier to implement on their websites than other online scripting languages.
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