Last updated on December 20th, 2023 at 07:35 am
PHP was first introduced in 1994 and soon started gaining popularity all around the world, setting up itself as a powerful and reliable platform and getting favor from developers everywhere. With time, several different other advanced programming languages have emerged. Perhaps, you may wonder why PHP is still in use, however, you shouldn’t.
Nowadays, PHP is still greatly used for web development. There are some popular platforms that have used it as a main component such as WordPress and Drupal.
Although according to TIOBE Index which ranks programming languages by popularity, its ranking is slipping down due to its security holes, developers have chosen it because of its simplicity.
Over the years, each time a new programming language or tool emerged, it has been predicted that PHP’s is dead; however, it is still able to remain in a top position in various programming-language rankings. For instance, it secures the fourth position as per the analyst firm RedMonk’s latest breakdown.
PHP vs. JavaScript
In the old days, PHP and JavaScript were partners and once dominated the market together. The partnership was simple, JavaScript took care of small details on the browser, and PHP handled all the server-side functions between port 80 and MySQL. This union was continued to support a lot of important things on the internet.
Then it was discovered that JavaScript can be used for server-side tasks. Now, PHP was not required to develop the next generation of server stacks. According to the Stack Overflow annual developer survey, PHP has started slipping down the rankings of the popular coding languages.
However, PHP’s deep code base and long-understood stability kept it alive and it continues to be used by somewhere around 80% of all websites, powering some most popular platforms including WordPress and Facebook.
Well, what makes it persistent? Since PHP is a very old language; it generates legacy code which in turn, makes developers keep using it continually. So, in simple words, it can be said that age is its advantages.
PHP vs. Python
Python has emerged as one of the most popular languages today. While PHP is being loved by millions of users and developers its incredible simplicity and flexibility, Python is preferred by developers to utilize data science and Artificial Intelligence technologies effectively.
However, it is far behind to compete with PHP for web development. PHP has a strong community, whereas Python has a growing community. Python is flexible but does not offer the kind of database connectivity which PHP provides.
PHP vs. Ruby
Ruby is also an open-source language, and it is around us since the 90s. ‘Ruby on Rails’ framework is pretty popular among developers for web development.
Developers adore it for its refined syntax and powerful performance. However, it is not as simple to learn as PHP. Also, it does not have a massive community like PHP.
Advantages of PHP
PHP is a powerful and effective programming language for web development. There are a number of factors that together make it the best and a popular platform.
The simplicity, ease of availability of experts, a huge database of reference and tutorial materials, great compatibility with HTML, and speedy development abilities are some major benefits of this language. PHP Development Company can help you deliver a robust solution for your business.
Now, let’s review PHP’s listed benefits more closely to discover how they can be applied in practice to improve your web app’s quality, functionality, and profitability.
Continuous Improvements
Many businesses and developers consider that a huge, strong, and passionate community is the biggest advantage of PHP. It’s each year’s new releases that help engage this community.
Founder and CEO of GetVoIP, Reuben Yonatan, says PHP improves every year and that makes it an awesome language. Belsky added PHP’s entire ecosystem is developing and improving. The language is becoming better with its every release.
Simplicity
There is a great number of websites that use WordPress which is built on PHP. It is not a versatile language but it is a king of web development platforms. It has an amazing capability to manage large databases efficiently, process files smoothly, and handle errors powerfully.
Moreover, the key benefit of php for web development is a flexible, customizable, and scalable language that empowers it to remain well-known and widely used, dominate over 80 percent of the Internet, and use by some leading websites and platforms, like WordPress, Drupal, and more.
Deep Code Base
PHP code is everywhere; all over the internet, you can find it. The primary website development platforms are written in PHP, such as WordPress, Drupal, and Joomla. Most of the PHP-based platforms and plug-ins are open source.
High Speed
As PHP works with its memory, it takes less workload and loading time, resulting in higher processing speed. One of key benefits of php for web development is that it helps developers to speed up their coding and deliver the result sooner.
PHP is relatively faster as there are no compilers, deployment, and JAR files. Developers can use the editor and some PHP files in a directory. Therefore, it is good to use PHP to accomplish a project quickly. Full-stack PHP web development company can effectively serve your needs on time.
Easy to Learn Language
PHP is relatively easy to learn, and using PHP and MySQL, you can create an outstanding webpage and a database in a couple of days. Even in 2021, PHP remains the same, still one of the simplest languages to learn and work.
You do not need prior knowledge to learn PHP; it is straightforward to learn from scratch. It is still a robust solution for PHP development company.
Open Source
PHP is an open-source language, it doesn’t need any additional plug-ins, tools, or expensive applications to work with and therefore it is free in all senses. There are no charges to be paid for any license or any kind of royalty fees, so it reduces the overall development cost.
The biggest benefit of open source is the huge community of developers. A strong community helps programmers learn quickly and implement advanced solutions. Moreover, each new release brings new fixes, changes, and enhancements that make the language even better.
Scalability
When you create a website for your business, it must have the capability to handle the growth of increased users and traffic. PHP provides great scalability to your Websites and handles the increased traffic effectively.
Moreover, you can extend the support by simply adding more servers when required. PHP offers support to all the main web browsers, so extending the support becomes pretty simple.
PHP is an independent platform, therefore you can run it on Mac OS, Windows, Linux and it also supports all the major web browsers, many web servers, enabling it to deploy on various systems and platforms.
Wide Choice of Database
You can use almost any kind of database when you are working with PHP. The most effective and popular database is MySQL. However, other PHP-compatible popular database management systems are mSQL, MS-SQL, SQLite, PostgreSQL, etc.
Moreover, other non-relational databases which you can use are ElasticSearch, Redis, and MongoDB.
Plentiful Documentation
There are a variety of tutorials, manuals, and other reference materials are available on the Internet for developers, helping them when they get stuck. These resources are of great help especially for beginners, helping them with learning and answering their doubts. Although learning PHP is relatively easy, the online resources make learning more convenient, smooth, and simple.
Experts Availability
You have a large choice if you are looking for an experienced PHP developer. It helps accomplish your project on time and minimizes the development cost. Apart from that, developers can build effective functional projects because the language is easy to learn and use.
Plenty of Resources
The key benefits of selecting PHP for web development is that it provides different resources and tools that are handy for developers who want to add specific features of functionalities to web apps. PHP provides quality tools that are ready for use.
By going through available online resources, you can learn PHP and find the new ways to build a web solution.
Popular Websites that Use PHP
As we have already discussed, PHP powers around 80 percent of websites all over the Internet. Some of the popular PHP programming language-based websites are Facebook which has around 25.7B monthly user visits, Wikipedia with 15B monthly user visits, Yahoo 4.8B monthly user visits, Flickr with 65.44M monthly visits, and Tumblr with 328.9M monthly visits.
Another benefit is that PHP code has been tested in a variety of real-life environments. Most of its flaws and bugs have been detected and fixed, providing it ultimate stability and enhancing trust.
PHP: Near Future
Today, PHP is still a secure great place in the world of web development and it continues to provide a powerful solution and excellent experience to all its users. It helps users to build an outstanding website on free or paid hosting platforms.
It is a reliable and simple solution that makes it is future bright. Each new release of PHP comes with enhancement, making it more developed, stable, and flawless. Just it needed to be evolved continuously, for stable popularity and growth.
Conclusion
If you are someone who wants to learn your first programming language, PHP is the perfect choice to go for. It is extremely simple to learn and on top of it, you have great support available to crack it.
It is true that the PHP is excellent for any web development companies. It is useful for a variety of development tasks and continues to evolve. PHP has deep roots in technology and each day becoming more advanced.
Now when you understood that what PHP does and specialize in which field, to ensure the ultimate results, you need to choose it as per your project demands. The decision should be made on the basis of the kind of development work you have. You can always make it the first choice and hire PHP Web Developers for your web development projects.
Naveen Khanna is the CEO of eBizneeds, a company renowned for its bespoke web and mobile app development. By delivering high-end modern solutions all over the globe, Naveen takes pleasure in sharing his rich experiences and views on emerging technological trends. He has worked in many domains, from education, entertainment, banking, manufacturing, healthcare, and real estate, sharing rich experience in delivering innovative solutions.
