What is PHP?
PHP is an open-source programming language whose first version dates back to 1995. From its inception, PHP’s main goal was to facilitate the development of dynamic websites through the use of databases. Originally the term PHP was the acronym for Personal Home Page, but this changed to what we know today as Hypertext Preprocessor.
PHP Versions
Over the years, PHP has evolved to meet the demands of modern websites. As a result, today, you can find five major versions of PHP used on websites worldwide.
- PHP 4. Launched in 2000, PHP 4 was thought of as a general-purpose scripting language and therefore had limited object-oriented functionality. This version is no longer supported.
- PHP 5. Released in 2004, this version introduced notable improvements in terms of security and object-oriented functionality. This version is not officially supported since 2019.
- PHP 6. The main goal of this version was to make PHP fully Unicode compliant. However, this was not possible, so this version was never released.
- PHP 7. It has been one of the most successful and widely used PHP versions so far. It was introduced in 2018 and will have active support until November 2021 and security fixes until the end of 2022.
- PHP 8. This is the current version of PHP. It is approximately 20% faster than PHP 7, thanks to numerous optimizations at different levels. Before upgrading, though, keep in mind that some applications such as WordPress still recommend using PHP 7.4.
Why Use PHP?
Despite the popularity of languages such as JavaScript, Go, Ruby, and Python, PHP remains the most widely used interpreted scripting language on the web, with a market share of approximately 46%.
However, its popularity is just one of the many reasons why you should consider PHP in your project.
- PHP is easy to learn and implement
- Due to its open-source nature, PHP does not require purchasing expensive licenses.
- PHP offers extensive cross-platform compatibility (Linux, Windows, macOS)
- Unlike other languages, PHP is extremely lightweight, which allows it to be run using minimal resources.
- PHP offers a robust security layer that can be configured at your convenience to prevent potential viruses & security threats
- PHP has a wide variety of frameworks such as Laravel, Zend, Symfony, and more which gives you the flexibility to choose the one that best fits the specific requirements of your project.
PHP Hosting For Developers
The potential of PHP is unquestionable. Leading web applications such as WordPress content management system, OpenCart eCommerce platform, or MailChimp email marketing platform are written in PHP, which says a lot about the robustness of this language.
In this sense, FullHost provides you with the perfect PHP Hosting environment to develop all kinds of solutions based on this popular language. From websites and applications that require reliable server-side scripting to applications for image processing or custom user input data processing, FullHost is your one-stop PHP hosting solution.
Contact one of our experts today and start enjoying all the benefits that only FullHost can offer you.
