Php is the widely used and most popular programming language used for the development of web pages. It was about 22 years ago when it initially came into sight. Since then it has exhibited several changes and is extended to share and exchange information with the databases of the website.
Its dynamic behavior made it the most preferable language to work on. It can be used on Unix-like and windows operating systems. The coding done using php can be embedded and implemented into HTML code.
Php uses data types and different functions of C and C++. Object oriented programming was first appended in the php3 extension and further improvement has been done in forthcoming versions.
The evolution of php programming language has revolutionized the ability of web programmers to create dynamic web pages and applications for their consumers.
EARLY HISTORY OF PHP PROGRAMMING LANGUAGE
Php was developed by Rasmus Lerdorf in 1994 for his own website to preserve his personal homepage. Later in 1998, two other programmers Andi Gutmans and Zeev Suraski joined him to leverage its use to another level that can be employed to redesign the web pages.
Lerdorf initially named this language as Personal Home Page as he created it for his personal use. But as it began to get recognition by other programmers and ultimately become a global web programming language, its name changed to Hypertext Preprocessor.
The objective behind developing this language was not to make it a global language. As a matter of fact, it incidentally gained popularity which is uncontrollable for Rasmus Lerdorf to protect and limit its individuality.
However, this venture proved to be beneficial for the future generation to have ease of access to the internet and discover new techniques of web development.
VERSIONS HISTORY OF PHP PROGRAMMING LANGUAGE
We all have witnessed the growth of web development which has been regularly supplemented by the development of newer php extensions. They enable web programmers to think beyond their imaginations and produce attractive and dynamic web pages. Here are some changes that php versions undergone as the time progressed.
- PHP 1 and 2 : The first two initial versions of php doesn’t have enough features but they have set a benchmark for the upcoming versions to get further advancement.
- PHP 3 and 4 : These two versions undergone the major changes as Zeev Suraski and Andi Gutmans recreated the whole language which resulted in the new name of the language Hypertext Preprocessor. More advanced parsing system called Zend Engine was added during this phase. Introduction of superglobals, command line interface and object oriented programming made its functionality more powerful.
- PHP 5 : The fifth version of php came into view in 2004 which was powered by the new Zend Engine II. This version came with the feature to manipulate the database with ease and have continuity. Binding variable was added in this version.
- PHP 6 : In this version, ICU (International Components for Unicode) library wasembedded into the program. But due to several other reasons this version was abandoned and was not launched in the market.
- PHP 7 : This is the newest version of the php programming language having several features which were not present in the previous versions such as 64-bit integer support, return and scalar type declarations etc. It is powered by Zend Engine 3.
NEED OF PHP PROGRAMMING LANGUAGE
Since php has been created, many companies have encountered their earlier problems related to web development and internet marketing. It is now become easy for them to popularize and extend their business.
Php programming language is needed in the following applications.
- Building web pages and web applications.
- Web content management systems.
- Graphic User Interface based applications.
- Digital marketing.
- Content marketing.
- Needed in E-commerce companies.
- Data Representation.
- Other web development applications.
DEVELOPER ORGANIZATION OF PHP
As we have already discussed above that php programming language is formerly developed by the computer programmer Rasmus Lerdorf for his individual purpose. But the organization which took it to the immense popularity is Zend Technologies Ltd. founded by Andi Gutmans and Zeev Suraski in 1997.
Both the programmers rewrote the whole script of the language and named it as Hypertext Preprocessor. They discovered a scripting engine called Zend Engine written in C which is used for the interpretation of php programming language.
FUTURE OF PHP PROGRAMMING LANGUAGE
Seeing the increasing popularity of php language, it can be easily predicted that it will have dominance over the other languages in the future.
Many popular websites such as Facebook, Wikipedia, Word Press, Yahoo etc. uses this language as their publishing tools. As these websites are mostly used in the world, it means the scope of php programming language is more than any other programming language.
Many software developers are getting interested to learn php and want to make their career as a php developer. It is an open source language which enables the web developer to use it very easily. This feature also helped it gaining so much popularity.
Looking at all the above benefits, the future of php programming language seems to be secure and one can opt to make career as a php developer without any confusion.