what is php history of php and why php is used

what is php

PHP == ‘Hypertext Preprocessor’
Open-source, server-side scripting language like ASP and JSP
PHP scripts are executed on the server
PHP Used to generate dynamic web-pages
PHP scripts reside between reserved PHP tags
This allows the programmer to embed PHP scripts within HTML pages
PHP supports many databases (MySQL, Informix, Oracle, Sybase, Solid, PostgreSQL, Generic ODBC, etc.)
PHP is free to download and use
Interpreted language, scripts are parsed at run-time rather than compiled beforehand
Source-code not visible by client
‘View Source’ in browsers does not display the PHP code Various
built-in functions allow for fast development
PHP Files

PHP files can contain text, HTML tags and scripts
PHP files are returned to the browser as plain HTML
PHP files have a file extension of ".php", ".php3", or ".phtml"

Brief History of PHP

PHP (PHP: Hypertext Preprocessor)

was created by Rasmus Lerdorf in 1994.
It was initially
developed for HTTP usage logging and server-side form generation in Unix.

PHP 2 (1995)

transformed the language into a Server-side embedded scripting language.
Added database support, file uploads, variables, arrays, recursive functions, conditionals,
iteration, regular expressions, etc.

PHP 3 (1998)

added support for ODBC data sources, multiple platform support,
email protocols (SNMP,IMAP), and new parser written by Zeev Suraski and Andi Gutmans

. PHP 4 (2000)

became an independent component of the web server for added efficiency.
The parser was renamed the Zend Engine. Many security features were added.

PHP 5 (2004)

adds Zend Engine II with object oriented programming,
robust XML support using the libxml2 library,
SOAP extension for interoperability with Web Services, SQLite has been bundled with PHP

Why we use PHP

PHP runs on different platforms (Windows, Linux, Unix, etc.)
PHP is compatible with almost all servers used today (Apache, IIS, etc.)
PHP is FREE to download from the official PHP resource: www.php.net
PHP is easy to learn and runs efficiently on the server side

Where to Start?

To get access to a web server with PHP support, you can: Install Apache (or IIS) on your own server, install PHP, and MySQL Or find a web hosting plan with PHP and MySQL support
Easy to Use Code is embedded into HTML. The PHP code is enclosed in special start and end tags that allow you to jump into and out of "PHP mode".

Easy to Use

Code is embedded into HTML. The PHP code is enclosed in special start and end tags that allow you to jump into and out of "PHP mode".

<html>
<head>
<title>Example</title>
</head>
<body>

<?php
echo "Hi, I'm a PHP script!";
?>

</body>
</html>

Cross Platform

Runs on almost any Web server on several operating systems.
One of the strongest features is the wide range of supported databases Web Servers: Apache, Microsoft IIS, Caudium, Netscape Enterprise Server

Operating Systems:

UNIX (HP-UX,OpenBSD,Solaris,Linux), Mac OSX, Windows NT/98/2000/XP/2003

Supported Databases:

Adabas D, dBase,Empress,
FilePro (read-only), Hyperwave,IBM DB2, Informix, Ingres, InterBase, FrontBase, mSQL, Direct MS-SQL, MySQL, ODBC, Oracle (OCI7 and OCI8), Ovrimos, PostgreSQL, SQLite, Solid, Sybase, Velocis,Unix dbm