Introduction To PHP

PHP Tutorial - An Introduction to PHP

This tutorial moves a step further from the basic HTML, and it will enhance your art of making good web pages with the use of PHP. Until recently, many websites were made only with the use of HTML, but the recent dot com revolution has changed the scenario. In today’s world, more and more scripting languages have come into existence and PHP is one of them. It is the easiest scripting language and yet the most powerful.

You should be having a basic understanding of WWW, HTML, and basics of building web pages before you learn the usage and handling of PHP.

What is PHP?

PHP stands for Hypertext Preprocessor. PHP is an open source server side scripting language that is especially suited for web development and can be embedded into HTML. The PHP scripts are executed on the server, not on the user’s browser, so there are no compatibility issues. PHP supports many databases like MySQL, Oracle, and Sybase. Since PHP is open source software, therefore it is free to download and use. Due to this it is quickly becoming the most famous scripting languages on the internet.

Why PHP?

Many questions must be coming to your mind, like:

Why should I learn a scripting language?

Why should I choose PHP over other languages?

• Learning a scripting language can open up huge possibilities for your website. With the use of scripts you can add many new interactive features like feedback forms, guest books, message boards, counters and many more advanced features. This will give your website a more professional image.
• PHP is one of the most powerful scripting languages which run on different platforms. It is compatible to almost all the servers used today. The most striking features of PHP are that it is FREE to download, easy to learn, and runs efficiently on the server side.

What does a PHP File contain?

• PHP files may contain text, HTML tags and scripts.
   
• PHP files are returned to the browser as plain HTML.
   
• PHP files have an extension of “.php”, “.php3”, or “.phtml”.

What is needed to run PHP?

PHP is a server side scripting language. This means that, the users will not need to install new software but your web host will need to have PHP set up on their server.

• Install an Apache server on your machine. You can download it from http://http.apache.org/download.cgi.
   
• Install PHP on your machine. You can download it from http://php.net/downloads.php.