Introduction to PHP

PHP is really a language which has outgrown its name. It had been originally conceived as a couple of macros to greatly help coders maintain personal home pages, and its own name grew from its purpose. Since that time, PHP's capabilities have already been extended, taking it beyond a couple of utilities to a full-featured program writing language, with the capacity of managing huge database-driven online environments.

PHP is officially referred to as PHP: Hypertext Preprocessor. This is a server-side scripting language often written within an HTML context. Unlike a typical HTML page, a PHP script isn't sent right to litigant by the server; instead, it really is parsed by the PHP engine. HTML elements in the script are left alone, but PHP code is interpreted and executed. PHP code in a script can query databases, create images, read and write files, speak to remote servers--the possibilities are endless. The output from PHP code is combined with HTML in the script and the effect sent to an individual.

PHP can be installed as a command-line application, rendering it a fantastic tool for scripting on a server. Many system administrators now use PHP for the type of automation that is traditionally handled by Perl or shell scripting.