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PHP Introduction

PHP code applied to server.

What You Should Already Know

Before proceeding you should have a basic understanding of the following:

• HTML
• CSS
• Javascript

What is PHP?

• PHP is an abbreviation for "PHP: Hypertext Preprocessor"
• PHP is the most widely used language, the source of open source writing
• PHP scripts are used on the server
• PHP is free to download and use

PHP is an amazing and popular language!

It is powerful enough to be the root of a great web blogging system (WordPress)!

Deep enough to use large social networks!

Easy and enough to be a standalone server language for beginners!

What is a PHP File?

• PHP files can contain text, HTML, CSS, JavaScript, and PHP code
• PHP code is applied to the server, and the result is returned to the browser as plain HTML
• PHP files with the ".php" extension

What Can PHP Do?

• PHP can generate dynamic page content
• PHP can create, open, read, write, delete, and close files on a server
• PHP can collect form data
• PHP can send and receive cookies
• PHP can add, delete, modify data on your website
• PHP can be used to control user access
• PHP can encrypt data

With PHP you are not limited to extracting HTML. You can download photos, PDF files, and even Flash movies. You can also extract any text, such as XHTML and XML.

Why PHP?

• PHP works on a variety of platforms (Windows, Linux, Unix, Mac OS X, etc.)
• PHP is compatible with almost all servers used today (Apache, IIS, etc.)
• PHP supports a wealth of information
• PHP is free. Download it from the official PHP resource: www.php.net
• PHP is easy to read and works well on the server side

What's new in PHP 7

• PHP 7 is much faster than previous popular stable releases (PHP 5.6)
• PHP 7 Improved Error Management
• PHP 7 Supports Strong Type Announcements for Activity Arguments
• PHP 7 supports new operators (such as spaceship operator: <=>)

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