Introduction to PHP
PHP, which stands for “Hypertext Preprocessor,” is a popular open-source server-side scripting language. It is especially suited for web development and can be embedded into HTML. PHP is widely used to create dynamic and interactive websites.
Key Features of PHP
- Server-Side Scripting: PHP scripts are executed on the server. The server processes the PHP code and sends the output (usually HTML) to the client’s browser.
- Cross-Platform: PHP runs on various platforms, including Windows, Linux, and macOS.
- Compatibility: PHP works seamlessly with numerous databases like MySQL, PostgreSQL, Oracle, and more.
- Ease of Use: PHP’s syntax is easy to understand and learn, especially for those with a background in programming languages like C or Perl.
- Extensive Libraries and Frameworks: PHP has a rich set of libraries and frameworks (like Laravel, Symfony, and CodeIgniter) that simplify web development.
- Open Source: PHP is free to use and has a large community of developers contributing to its development and support.
Basic PHP Syntax
PHP code is embedded within HTML code using the <?php ... ?> tags. Here is a simple example:
<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
<head>
<title>My First PHP Page</title>
</head>
<body>
<h1><?php echo "Hello, World!"; ?></h1>
</body>
</html>In this example:
- The PHP code is placed inside
<?php ... ?>tags. echois a PHP statement used to output text to the web page.
