PHP powers some of the most successful websites on the Internet today. Developers use this server-side scripting language to create dynamic, scalable websites that handle millions of users and transactions. Examples of companies using PHP include social media giants like Facebook and Wikipedia, as well as e-commerce sites like Etsy and Shopify. PHP (…)
PHP powers some of the most successful websites on the Internet today. Developers use this server-side scripting language to create dynamic, scalable websites that handle millions of users and transactions. Examples of companies using PHP include social media giants like Facebook and Wikipedia, as well as e-commerce sites like Etsy and Shopify. PHP is a versatile and powerful tool that has proven its worth in creating highly successful websites.
In the past, PHP was widely adopted by developers due to its ease of use, flexibility, and speed. It has become the right choice for building websites of all types. Looking ahead, PHP will continue to play a vital role in web development and many companies will continue to outsource to vendors offering PHP development services. With constant updates and improvements, it will continue to be a powerful and relevant tool for developers to create complex applications and websites that meet the needs of users around the world.
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What is the PHP programming language?
PHP is a popular server-side scripting language used for web development. It was first created in 1994 by Rasmus Lerdorf as a simple set of common gateway interface (CGI) scripts to track visitors to your website. It has since evolved into a versatile programming language widely used for building dynamic and interactive websites.
PHP is an open source language, which means developers have the ability to use, modify, and distribute the language freely. Its syntax is similar to C and Perl, making it relatively easy to learn for developers with experience in those languages. PHP is also known for its ease of integration with databases, making it an ideal choice for developing data-driven web applications.
One of PHP's main strengths is its ability to handle server-side scripting. This allows developers to create dynamic web pages that can change in response to user input. Furthermore, PHP can be used to build a wide variety of web applications, from simple blogs and content management systems to large e-commerce sites and social media platforms. Its versatility, ease of use, and strong community support have made it one of the most popular programming languages for web development.
What are the advantages of Web development with PHP?
Developing web applications using PHP has several advantages, such as:
- Open source: PHP is a free and open source language, which means it is free to use and distribute. Developers also have the ability to modify the code as per their needs.
- Large community: PHP has a large and active community of developers who contribute to its development, provide support, and share resources.
- Easy to learn: PHP has a simple and intuitive syntax that is easy to learn, even for beginners. It also has a vast library of documentation and resources available online.
- Platform independent: PHP is a platform independent language, meaning it can run on multiple operating systems and servers, including Linux, Unix, Windows, and macOS.
- Scalable: PHP is a scalable language, making it ideal for developing small and large web applications.
- Database Integration: PHP can seamlessly integrate with various databases, including MySQL, PostgreSQL, and Oracle, allowing developers to create data-driven web applications with ease.
- Rapid development: PHP offers a wide range of built-in functions and frameworks that allow developers to build web applications quickly and efficiently.
This language remains in demand and highly used, which is why many companies choose to outsource custom PHP development services rather than hiring in-house to keep up with demand.
The History of PHP
As stated earlier, Rasmus Lerdorf created PHP in 1994 by. Lerdorf later named the scripts Personal Home Page Tools (PHP Tools). These scripts allowed web developers to create dynamic web pages by dynamically generating HTML content using server-side scripting.
Two years later, in 1996, Andi Gutmans and Zeev Suraski rewrote the original PHP parser and created the basis for PHP 3, which was the first widely used version of the language. With this release, PHP began to gain popularity among web developers due to its ease of use and integration with databases.
PHP 4, released in 2000, offered a significant performance increase over its predecessor, making it even more popular. In the mid-2000s, PHP became one of the most widely used programming languages for web development, with numerous open source projects, including popular content management systems such as WordPress, Drupal, and Joomla.
In 2014, PHP 5.6 was released, introducing significant improvements and new features, including better security, better performance, and support for Unicode. PHP 7, released in 2015, brought even more significant improvements in terms of performance, speed and memory usage. These improvements have helped make PHP even more attractive to web developers.
Today, PHP remains one of the most widely used programming languages for web development, with an active and vibrant community of developers contributing to its development and maintenance. With the release of PHP 8 in 2020, the language continues to evolve and improve, offering even more features and improvements that make it an excellent option for web development projects of all sizes and scopes.
PHP sites that clean
PHP has played a key role in launching many of the most successful websites on the Internet. Its flexibility, ease of use and ability to integrate with other technologies make it the best choice for web developers around the world. Before starting a PHP project, companies should take a look at the most popular PHP-based websites, what makes them so popular, and how the language works.
Facebook (goal)
Facebook is the largest social media app on the web, with over 3 billion active users worldwide . The company has been utilizing PHP's dynamic content generation capabilities since its founding in 2004. All of the Facebook app's core code was initially written in PHP by Mark Zuckerberg and Dustin Moskovitz, making it a popular choice for many technology companies today. .
In 2010, Facebook released HipHop for PHP (HPHPc), a transpiler that converts PHP code to C++ and then compiles it into binary for execution. However, in 2013, HipHop for PHP was replaced by the HipHop Virtual Machine (HHVM), which significantly improved performance and eased the development and deployment processes. Since then, HHVM has become the standard for developing and deploying PHP-based applications. As a result, Facebook's extensive use of PHP has greatly contributed to its popularity and increased its adoption in the industry.
WordPress
WordPress, one of the most used content management systems (CMS) on the internet, features PHP as its main programming language. PHP's flexibility and ability to handle dynamic content made it the perfect language for a CMS like WordPress. The development of WordPress began in 2003 when co-founders Matt Mullenweg and Mike Little decided to create a fork of the popular blogging software b2/cafelog.
WordPress has continued to evolve over the years, with each new version improving the previous one. The platform's plugin architecture has made it incredibly popular among users, allowing them to add new features and functionality to their websites with just a few clicks. WordPress's ease of use and versatility have also made it popular among developers. WordPress themes and plugins are easy to create using PHP, allowing developers to customize the platform to meet their customers' specific needs.
WordPress has also adopted newer technologies like JavaScript and React, making it even more powerful and flexible. However, PHP remains the backbone of WordPress, powering its core functionality and providing the foundation for its continued success.
Wikipedia
Wikipedia is an online encyclopedia and one of the largest and most popular websites in the world. The site uses the PHP programming language and uses MySQL/MariaDB as the database backend. PHP's fast execution and its ability to handle large amounts of data make it the perfect programming language for a site like Wikipedia that relies on extensive data and complex queries.
In 2014, Wikipedia made a significant change by switching to HHVM, a virtual machine for PHP developed by Facebook. This change led to a significant improvement in site performance. The site's pages began loading almost twice as fast after switching to HHVM, enabling a better user experience for its readers.
Day off
Since its founding in 2009, Slack has gained more than 3 million daily active users with a valuation of approximately $4 billion. To maximize workflow efficiency and speed up web request times while minimizing program defects, Slack employs PHP in its backend. This allowed them to build a system that can handle a large volume of messages without compromising performance.
Slack uses a PHP framework called Laravel to enable easy development and scalability of its software. Laravel is a free and open-source PHP web framework that is popular for its expressive syntax, ease of use, and powerful tools. Using PHP has also allowed Slack to integrate seamlessly with other web services, allowing users to link their accounts and share information quickly and easily.
As a result, Slack has become a popular tool for companies of all sizes looking to streamline their communication processes and improve collaboration between team members.
MailChimp
Mailchimp, a well-known email marketing platform, is built on the PHP programming language. The developers used PHP for all aspects of the Mailchimp application, including the production environment. Mailchimp's backend leverages scalable PHP databases to handle millions of emails sent daily to over 13 million registered users. Using PHP has allowed Mailchimp to increase its efficiency in processing email campaigns and reduce the number of program defects.
Additionally, PHP's dynamic features, flexibility, and ease of use make it an ideal choice for the Mailchimp development process. Furthermore, Mailchimp's PHP-based backend allows the platform to handle large amounts of data while providing efficient access to data storage.
Overall, using PHP has allowed Mailchimp to develop a reliable, high-performance email marketing platform that has become an essential tool for businesses of all sizes. With a focus on simplicity and scalability, PHP has allowed Mailchimp to evolve with its customers' changing needs, maintaining its position as a leader in the email marketing industry.
Etsy
Etsy, the popular online marketplace for handmade products and vintage items, relies on PHP for its web development. The company uses PHP to power its dynamic user interface, allowing the site to display unique content to each visitor based on their search queries and preferences.
Etsy's platform also uses MySQL as its main database management system, which allows the company to store and organize a large amount of product listings and user data. By using PHP and MySQL, Etsy is able to scale its infrastructure to handle the significant growth it has experienced since its founding in 2005.
In addition to using PHP for its website development, Etsy has also contributed to the PHP community by sharing its open source libraries and developing tools that other developers can use to build scalable and efficient web applications. The use of PHP has been crucial in allowing Etsy to create a successful, easy-to-use online marketplace that connects millions of buyers and sellers around the world.
Tumblr
With over 500 million blogs, Tumblr is a hub of Internet culture and memes. In 2016, the platform migrated to PHP 7, resulting in significant performance improvements and the ability to implement new language features such as scalar type hints and return type declarations.
Conclusion
PHP's versatility as a dynamic scripting language has allowed companies to save significant time, maximizing long-term return on investment. As PHP 7 gains popularity and more technology and retail companies choose it as their server-side language, it's clear that it should always be seriously considered by software development teams and businesses. These top 7 companies may have used PHP in different ways, but they all ensured they had the best talent working on it to ensure their success.
If you liked this, be sure to check out our other PHP articles.
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- No, PHP isn't dead yet: why languages don't disappear
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Source: BairesDev