A server-side scripting language that is used to create dynamic web pages and web applications. PHP is designed to work seamlessly with HTML and can be embedded within HTML code.
PHP was created in 1994 by Rasmus Lerdorf, who initially used it to maintain his personal website. Over time, Lerdorf added more features to PHP, and it eventually evolved into a full-fledged programming language.
In 1997, two developers named Andi Gutmans and Zeev Suraski rewrote the core of PHP, creating the basis for what is now known as PHP 3. This new version of PHP included many new features and improvements, and it quickly gained popularity among web developers.
Since then, PHP has continued to evolve and improve, with the latest version being PHP 8. PHP is an open-source language, which means that anyone can contribute to its development and improvement.
PHP is used by a large percentage of websites on the internet, including some of the world’s most popular websites such as Facebook, Wikipedia, and WordPress. According to W3Techs, as of February 2023, PHP is used by 79.2% of all websites whose server-side programming language is known.
