Why PHP Is Getting More Popular By The Day

Why PHP Is Getting More Popular By The Day

There is no disputing the fact that PHP is one of the most admired choice of programming language for developers, and hence the most preferred one in server side scripting language. In fact, several of the very famous online businesses like Flickr, Yahoo, Wikipedia and Facebook use PHP for developing their website. Here we look into why PHP is getting more popular, and why businesses have begun to adopt it unanimously.

1. PHP is free

As PHP is an open source language, it is free and a plethora of documentation available to developers. Thus, it has evolved to be the most cost-effective method of creating robust websites. And along with this language, you gain access to several open source software like WordPress, and that makes it all the more cost effective. Hosting this language requires Linux server, because that’s where it is run on. An additional advantage of PHP is that it supports a wide range of databases.

2. Flexibility

The flexibility of PHP makes it possible to connect with several databases at a single time. PHP doesn’t require you to bind yourself with just a few features, but rather allows you to solve all your problems by using different methods. When you say PHP is flexible, it means the language is rich enough to accept many different ways to achieve the same end result.

And its flexibility extends to it being loosely typed as well, meaning the variables and parameters of PHP can be changed to different types. It will try to figure automatically what you want to do with your code, and based on that will convert the variables automatically. In compiled languages like .NET for instance, the codes are strongly typed, so it is not easy to change from one variable to another. However, loosely typed languages are slightly slower than strongly typed languages because the engine has to wait and watch out for changes rather than simply following a path. However, the good news about PHP is that it is fairly flexible for dynamic flows or when you want to call functions in a dynamic manner.

3. Incredible code structure

PHP is known for its code structure. It is stable, strong and has the capacity to take your website to the next level. And the code structure is thoughtfully imbibed, which means security is also very high there. The code structure makes it a developer friendly programming language, because all the inputs fed into the system are scanned in detail to avoid discrepancies.

PHP code is quite easy to pick up as well and even a non-programmer can take the code and work on it without truly understanding the science behind coding. Developers like it that they can create highly personalised codes with PHP.

4. PHP works beautifully with CMS

When content requirements gravitated towards adaptive content, that made CMS customisation very important and businesses began to compete with each other to create adaptive content. Through adaptive content, businesses are able to provide personalised experience to its visitors and this generates interest in them, so they will come back for more. Such content can be created only when the codes can be customised. So with PHP, this is once again possible because it helps the developers make ‘amoebic’ websites, meaning the developers can transform the website according to wish, and convert it to conform to customers will. Not surprisingly, Content Management Systems like Joomla, Drupal and WordPress all have their base in PHP.

5. Amazing scalability

PHP is a wonderful language that you can scale as per wish. It is not easy to write code with every challenge that comes in, so it is imperative for the developer to have something that will save his time. As PHP is open source, there is a huge family developers constantly working on it, so extensions and add ons are continuously added on to it. You can rely on PHP if you have any pressing business requirements because developers themselves can add new features and functionalities to meet their goals. Features like user validation, help desk and filtering input are some of the common extensions used by developers.

6. Fast load time

PHP is noted for its quick loading speeds, it is much faster than ASP because it runs from its own memory space. ASP however, needs an overhead server and COM based architecture. Slow pages can incur SEO penalties so it is imperative for the developers to create sites that load faster. PHP help you with load times, especially when you have surges and peaks in traffic caused by seasonal demand or a new market opportunity.

7. Platform diversity is handled so well

PHO codes can run on all major platforms. Developers wishing to seamlessly integrate their website across multiple platforms no longer need to worry about the financial factor or the challenges involved in opening their websites in different devices and operating systems. With the existing infrastructure, they can leverage platforms like Unix, Linux and Windows and interface it with MySQL and Apace.

Closing thoughts

In short, PHP plays a remarkable role in improving the speed of development. While PHP leverages the Apache web server, it allows the applications to leverage MySQL databases and allow developers to meet the challenge of creating websites in quick turnaround times. PHP has a really huge developer community. In the developing world, receiving support and help at crucial times plays an important role in choosing a programming language. PHP is the 5th most popular language at Github, 5thlargest meetup community, and 3rd largest StackOverflow Community, so it is no wonder why it is so popular.

With its huge standard library, exceptional addons and extensions, coupled with cross-platform functionality, PHP allows developers to come with website that is compatible with all the main operating systems. It is absolutely no wonder why PHP is so popular among developers.

Interesting links about the topic:
Why PHP?
5 Reasons Why PHP Is a Great

Pictures: Flicker.com / scaldra2/ India7 Network

The author: Reema Oamkumar is engaged as a thought leader at www.Software-Developer-India.com which is a part of the YUHIRO Group. YUHIRO is a German-Indian enterprise which provides programmers to IT companies, agencies and IT departments.