Introduction to PHP

What is PHP?

PHP stands for "PHP: HyperText Preprocessor". PHP is a server side scripting language for making logic driven websites. Ever wonder how they made that "contact us" form on their site, which sends out emails? Well, they used PHP. Or, how they made that image upload tool? Well, they used PHP. PHP written scripts can use databases to keep track of your customer's and visitors activities on your site, send out periodical newsletters to your subscribers, upload files or images and drive the content on your site dynamically. The possibilities are endless. Most of the social networking websites you visit are writing in PHP. PHP is that powerful. Learning The Basics of PHP will help you tremendously in your Webpage development.

How PHP Works?

PHP sits between your browser and the web server. When you type in the URL of a PHP website in your browser, your browser sends out a request to the web server. The web server then calls the PHP script on that page. The PHP module executes the script, which then sends out the result in the form of HTML back to your browser, which you see on the screen. Here is a basic php diagram which illustrate the process.

PHP Process Diagram

What are PHP benefits?

PHP is a free open source language. That means you don't have to pay thousands of dollars in licensing fee to acquire PHP. Best of all, it is easy to install. The most striking feature of it is that it is easy to learn. PHP is used by millions of people and developers around the world. There are thousands of websites on the internet which are written using PHP. One primary example is Yahoo! Bookmarks. PHP has an ever growing community. There are thousands of websites, forums and community websites dedicated on PHP. I built this site to share my PHP examples, recourses and code with you that you can use on your website easily. I will also show you how to build your own PHP website with all the bells and whistles from ground up. You will also learn the fundamentals of PHP and write your own PHP code. Basic PHP at the ground level up.