Many programming languages have emerged over the past several decades. However, PHP is still the language used by many websites today.
What are the advantages of this global programming language? And what are the reasons to learn PHP? The answer will be in our detailed article.
Keep scrolling down for more details!
Technology and programming are evolving daily, leading to many new languages. So which language is worth your time and effort to pursue? PHP will be the right choice if you appreciate the below benefits.
1. It’s Easy To Learn
Right from the first PHP development, Rasmus Lerdorf wanted it to be the primary programming language that even people with no coding experience could understand.
Therefore, PHP possesses quite a simple syntax. After only a few hours of familiarization, learners can create a simple website.
This language also supports some advanced features. You can experiment with simple scripts and then apply them to your career as a professional programmer.
2. It’s Fast
Speed is one of the essential requirements when writing a current web application. And PHP version 7.x can completely meet the above requirements.
The latest version of PHP is 3 times faster than before. PHP speed is much more impressive than many other back-end languages.
For the same workload, PHP only took 2.61 seconds to process, while Java 3 took 16.98 seconds.
3. It’s Popular
PHP supports more than 80% of different website styles so it can work well with Wikipedia and WordPress. On every website, it maintains impressive advantages, such as being powerful and user-friendly. With many people, PHP is more attractive for building websites than HTML, CSS, and so on.
4. It’s Flexible
You should have some knowledge of PHP because of its flexible applications.
Once you understand PHP, you can switch between PHP, HTML, and CSS. This advantage will help you no longer work with cumbersome code to output HTML.
PHP is also compatible with many different operating systems and online databases. You are always ready to work if you have a particular understanding of this flexible language.
5. It’s Open-Source
PHP is an open-source programming language. It does not require paying or applying for a license to unlock hidden features. Developers will appreciate this advantage, as it will save a lot of costs in website creation. IT professionals can also unleash their creativity to bring new, more optimized features.
PHP is well-suited for building content management systems as an open-source programming language. In case you are not able to determine the version that is right for the nature of your work, PHP Tools for Visual Studio will help you.
6. It’s Well Documented
While learning a new programming language, you will need to refer to quite a few references. And PHP is one of the few programming languages that provides complete documentation for anyone to understand and use.
It’s easy to find up-to-date guides. Websites, forums, and Youtube channels related to PHP will always be ready to provide support whenever needed.
Beginners often go to W3Schools.com, which provides much new knowledge about PHP with examples.
7. It Makes Debugging Simple
Even the most experienced developers can make mistakes during the application development or website-building phase. And the two most familiar ways developers fix bugs are to read code from start to finish and use a debugger.
Reading, testing the code, and finding mistakes take developers a lot of time. Accordingly, the code can span hundreds of lines with varying difficulty.
The best debugging method is using tools specific to the language you are using. Yet, not all languages have practical debugging tools, and PHP is an exception.
The language comes with the XDebug extension, which supports debugging and development quite quickly and efficiently.
8. It has a Well-Designed Framework
It will take you about a few months to complete the application traditionally. You must build a solid foundation and test the app for safety and speed. However, you can still use shortcuts to develop simple apps in just a few minutes.
PHP has many frameworks available with scripts that have been written and thoroughly tested. You need to fill in the blanks to use PHP’s frameworks.
The most secure and efficient PHP frameworks include Phalcon, Laravel, CakePHP, Symfony, Yii, FuelPHP, and Zend Framework.
9. It is in High Demand
There is a growing need for web developers from companies and corporations to create and maintain their online systems. PHP is a popular language for web development due to its flexibility.
Many industries require PHP developers, such as e-commerce, healthcare, finance, and education. In particular, E-commerce businesses require developers to create shopping carts, payment gateways, and secure login portals.
Meanwhile, healthcare organizations require developers to create patient portals, appointment scheduling systems, and electronic medical records.
Finance companies need developers to create transaction processing systems, analysis tools, and customer relationship management platforms.
History of PHP
PHP is known as a scripting language or a type of code for developing server-side, open-source applications. It can be embedded into an HTML page.
Rasmus Lerdorf first published it in 1994 with simple scripts. After about a year of bug fixes and development, the language has added more functionality.
By June 1995, PHP was officially launched to the public. Developers immediately fell in love with this open programming language, and there are many improvements to make PHP more suitable for the job requirements.
PHP has become a widely used scripting language in designing creative and intuitive websites. It has some differences from processing languages, such as showing how information is on the screen instead of turning it into results.
In short, in scripting languages, no type can surpass PHP. It is even more popular than HTML because of its convenience, speed, and usefulness.
Conclusion
PHP is the optimal scripting language for developing server-side applications. You can also use it to embed HTML pages or help build web applications.
All the above significant advantages are the reasons why you should learn PHP.
If the reasons in the article convince you, start learning about PHP today. You will surely get a new step in your career and gain a lot of exciting experiences.
Thank you for reading!