PHP: The superhero of web development

PHP, or Hypertext Preprocessor, is a widely-used open-source programming language designed for web development. It is particularly popular for creating dynamic websites and web applications and is used by many popular frameworks. PHP has an impressive global presence and resounding impact on the web development industry as a whole.
In this article, we'll explore why PHP is a popular choice for web development and discuss the benefits it offers, including its high popularity, frequent updates, processing speed, and flexible database integrations.

WHAT IS PHP?

PHP, or Hypertext Preprocessor, is like the superhero of the web development world. This open-source, server-side programming language has been saving the day for custom web projects since its first release in 1995. Back then the acronym stood for something different: Personal Home Page. 

Like any good superhero, PHP has only gotten stronger with age - the current version is 8.2.6.

At Elemental, we’ve been using PHP since around 2005 and still continue to do so today. Although this is not the only development language in our arsenal, we will dive into some of PHP’s benefits, and why we still rate PHP highly and use it extensively when we develop custom websites, web apps, and eCommerce sites. 

HIGHLY POPULAR

PHP has been around for decades and has been the web development language of choice for custom web applications of all sizes and scopes of projects. Companies around the world have embraced PHP as the development language of choice from small startups to world-renowned corporations. 

W3Techs.com estimates that over 75% of the websites on the Internet have been developed using PHP, that’s massive! 

Some of the most well-known websites like Facebook, Spotify, Slack, Wikipedia, and Etsy have been built using PHP. And let's not forget about other web platforms like WordPress, Drupal, and Joomla - they've also been using PHP to power their sites.

However, we don’t suggest using WordPress for custom web applications, for reasons stated in this article. 

As custom web developers, WordPress does not offer a framework that is scalable for some websites, and certainly not web apps and platforms. Plugins play a big role in WordPress, but they need to be updated frequently and can cause the site to break. We suggest rather opting for custom web development where advanced features and functionality can be coded in. 

PHP has a well-documented nature and massive support community. These factors have been instrumental in the ongoing improvements and evolution of the language, making PHP a reliable choice for web development projects.

MANY POPULAR FRAMEWORKS ARE WRITTEN IN PHP

Development frameworks are like the sidekicks of the software development world. They're a system, application, or product that provides a set of modules and components that can be used to create different web applications, saving time and money in the process.

Frameworks often provide standing or common functionality such as database integration, form validation, security, logging, and more.

Many development companies use frameworks to develop all kinds of projects from websites, web applications, intranet systems, eCommerce sites, or online platforms. 

Many of the most popular and widely-used development frameworks are written in PHP, which is a testament again to the popularity and support for this programming language. 

These frameworks include Laravel, Code Igniter, Yii, CakePHP, Symfony, and Zend Framework. 

Our preferences in terms of PHP MVC frameworks to develop custom web applications are Laravel and Code Igniter. 

OPEN-SOURCE

A major benefit to using PHP as a programming language is that it is entirely open-source. Open-source software is code that is designed to be publicly accessible - anyone can see, modify, and distribute the code as they see fit. 

Being an open-source language means that users don’t have to fork out money (there are no licensing costs) to use the frameworks, run code, use its database, debugging tools, etc. PHP can simply be downloaded and modified to create websites and web applications any time you want.    

PHP IS FREQUENTLY UPDATED

PHP is updated on a pretty much ongoing basis, with both minor and major updates being released on a regular basis. 

PHP is always improving and releasing updates with impressive features and enhancements.  These newer versions bring a series of vast improvements that make the language better and the web applications that are built in the language more robust. The most notable enhancements are focused on improvements to the speed of the language and enhanced security. 

It’s clear that PHP is on a continuous growth path making this another reason to select this as a development language of choice for web projects now and for the future.

PROCESSING SPEED 

Speed is everything when it comes to websites, web apps, and platforms. PHP uses its own memory to make tasks run faster - across the board. This means that processing and upload times are sped up too. Through the execution or processing of tasks, load times and speed of the workload are reduced, due to the fact that PHP uses its own memory. 

These speed enhancements also result in an increase in uploading times and this is key for SEO too, which is a key factor when it comes to online marketing. 

With each new release version of PHP, the performance and speed is improved. For example with the release of PHP 8, this version is said to have better performance, better syntax, and improved type safety. PHP 8 is faster than its predecessor PHP 7. So we can continue to expect and experience faster processing speed with future versions, which benefit all websites and web applications that have been developed using PHP.

FLEXIBLE DATABASE INTEGRATIONS

PHP can integrate and communicate with all kinds of databases, from MySQL, PostgreSQL, MSSQL, and IBM to DB2 and Oracle. 

This is yet another factor that makes PHP an attractive language that can be coupled with the database of your choice.

WHAT IS ELEMENTAL’S EXPERIENCE WITH PHP?

Since 2005 we’ve adopted PHP as one of the main development languages that we’ve used to develop highly complex, custom web applications, online platforms and systems. 

In the early days before the existence of frameworks, we used PHP in its pure vanilla form for development. However, with the rise of PHP MVC frameworks taking place, we shifted our approach to make use of these frameworks for development. 

Nowadays, we use PHP frameworks as a standalone tech stack for both the front-end and back-end development. 
Alternatively, we have used PHP as the back-end technology (through a PHP framework still) with a Javascript framework or library (such as Angular, React or VueJS) being used as the front-end technology.

FUN FACT: THE PHP LOGO

PHP has a mascot! Vincent Pontier designed the PHP logo in 1998 to resemble the shape of an elephant when viewed from the side. This mascot is known in the PHP community as the elePHPants, and the original designs are rare and collectable. 

TO END OFF 

PHP is here to stay! Even though PHP is not the newest and sexiest language grabbing all the headlines, it’s proven itself over and over again since its launch and will continue to do so. 

There are numerous benefits to using PHP as the development language of choice (especially when adopting an MVC framework), for web development projects. 

We do however feel that it’s always best to pair the correct language and tech stack to the requirements of a project and where applicable PHP can do a superb job. 

The fact that it’s the most widely used coding language on the web speaks volumes for its adoption and support. Continuous improvements and releases of newer versions, with better performance and enhanced security, will continue to make PHP a solid and attractive development language for the foreseeable future.

Needing a competent and experienced development company to build your next project in PHP? Get in touch as we’d love to hear more about your project and what you’re trying to achieve.