Rasmus Lerdorf created PHP script in 1995 and since then it has continuously progressed. The PHP license to release PHP software is free of cost. PHP or Hypertext Preprocessor is a scripting language originally designed to produce webpages. As a general purpose scripting language, the PHP is used for server web development or dynamic webpage content. Most of the operating systems, web servers, client side GUI applications and Relational Database Management Systems can use PHP script.
The script works by filtering data: it takes an input of text or PHP instructions and gives another stream of data as the output. The script usability is similar to that of Java Server Pages and Asp.Net. Moreover, the script can be used to develop software frameworks to promote Rapid Application Development (RAD) like Zend Framework, Symfony, CakePHP and CodeIgniter.
Security Concerns
As per data available between 2004 and 2009 with the National Vulnerability Database, the PHP vulnerability has increased from 20% to 30%, which means that hackers can use the data sources to retrieve data from web servers or use the information to send spam.
Example of PHP Embedded with HTML Code
(Reference, Wikipedia)
<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
<head>
<meta charset=”utf-8″ />
<title>PHP Test</title>
</head>
<body>
<?php
echo ‘Hello World’;
/* echo(“Hello World”); works as well, although echo isn’t a
function, but a language construct. In some cases, such
as when multiple parameters are passed to echo, parameters
cannot be enclosed in parentheses. */
?>
</body>
</html>
Three Advantages of PHP
1. It’s easy to learn, implement and use by a non-technological person.
2. It can run off any web server platform.
3. PHP script is free to use.
Furthermore, PHP script can not only manage text content but also graphic content. Charts and graphs can be created through PHP and .PNG / GIF images as well as instantly. The script is written in C and thus can be expanded with new modules.