This tutorial is a part of an internal training program – PHP L1 Freshers
PHP is abbreviated as Hypertext Processor. In the previous few days, you may have gone through extensive training in HTML, which is Hyper Text Markup Language, and here we are going to learn what a Hypertext Processor (PHP) is, how it works, and how you can take advantage of it to build amazing websites and web applications.
PHP is used by more than 36% of websites online today and is the most-used web programming language as of today. It has way too many open-source libraries and documentation across the internet, which makes it not only powerful and widely used but also easier to learn and develop.
The new-age programmers often say that PHP is dead. It is going down and embracing technologies such as Node.JS; however, they have been saying PHP is dead for years now. IIRC, ever since 2013, they all say the same thing – but here we are, in 2023. PHP is not yet dead and is still the most widely used programming language with a dominating market share.
The thing is, PHP is versatile. Once you get hold of it, you will understand how simple it is to work with. There is no MVC in vanilla PHP, but if you want MVC, you can use a framework like Laravel or Codeigniter. While MVCs can be helpful in developing denser applications, the majority of the applications that we spend time creating don’t need MVC. To be honest, some applications are better off without MVC because MVC adds too much weight on the application layer of the software we develop, which becomes an unnecessary hassle for us to maintain.
Node.js doesn’t allow you to build web applications without MVC. You can do that, but it is much harder than the MVC itself, as you have to manage multiple packages and process HTTP requests and all that.
So that’s something I really like about PHP. It offers unmatched versatility and simplicity. Something that we developers need to develop and deliver applications in less time with peace of mind.
I don’t intend to shame other languages for what they are – they are indeed powerful and can come in handy for some use cases. As a multi-stack developer, I do find all languages are equally powerful and can be useful for certain kinds of applications. But out of all those languages, my personal favorite to build an application would be PHP and/or Python for the majority of the use cases. Both of these languages are very versatile and developer-friendly and can be easily learned.
Let’s get started.