10 reason behind huge popularity of PHP in Web development

PHP is one of the most admired and popular server side scripting languages which are widely used for creating websites. With faster turn-around time, enhanced security and affordability, PHP has become preferred choice of the website developers.

In the JavaScript era, millions of websites are still running on PHP. Even many famous online businesses such as Facebook, Yahoo, Wikipedia, Flickr etc. use PHP.

Do you ever think, why PHP is so popular in the web development field?

If you think just because it is open source and free, you are wrong. Of-course, these are one of the reasons, but it is not sufficient to convince people to use it.

In this article, I am explaining 10 advantages that make PHP popular among web developers.

1. PHP is the easiest language to start with -

PHP is simple to learn compared to other languages like Java or .Net. It's so easy that anyone can learn PHP coding. You just need proper training and practice and you can master this language in no time. One of the reason it is always recommended to master PHP is because it is easier to use.

2. PHP Is FREE -

PHP is an open source language - FREE, and has a stupendous amount of available documentation, which making it the most cost-effective method of creating robust websites and taking over online real estate space without worrying about legal obligations and subscriptions fees.Furthermore, PHP reduces barriers to entry for new website developers, allowing them to simply leverage their skills and talents for coding to get started.

3. Great community and documentation -

Head over to PHP Manual and you will be amazed by the excellent documentation. And if you are stuck with anything related to PHP there would be very rare instance when you can't find your solution online and that is because of the great community support that PHP enjoys. You don't have the same kind of community in other languages like Ruby or Java.

4. PHP Works Exceptionally Well With CMS -

The latest trend towards adaptive content has made CMS customization a crucial competitive need for businesses. Adaptive content is content personalized for the individual visitor to the website to create a one-to-one experience for visitors. This is only possible if the website's code can be customized and integrated with the CMS. PHP makes websites amoebic, allowing the developers to transform them at their will. All PHP websites are fully customizable and can be transformed to meet the requirements of the customers with ease because Content Management Systems like WordPress, Drupal, Joomla and others are primarily based on PHP. Hence, developing or integrating a robust custom-made CMS solution with your website is simple.

5. PHP is Secure -

One of the complains against PHP is that it is pretty insecure but it is far from truth. PHP is in reality as insecure as any other programming language. Security depends upon the programmer and not the language. PHP also gives all the tools to make your application secure but you have to know to implement them.

6. Extensions and Add-Ons -

PHP is one of the most scalable languages for website development. Being an opens source language, its family of online developers is continuously involved in developing extension to meet the emerging requirements of the businesses. This allows the developers and businesses to easily develop and add newer functionalities and features to their website with ease.

7. Embed-ability -

The latest trend in adaptive content has made responsive website and fluid grid systems even more pertinent to businesses. In this context, HTML5 is the unquestioned industry standard for developing highly dynamic and responsive websites. This is where PHP surfaces as the language that allows its code to be easily embedded into the HTML. Developers can easily convert existing static website code into a whole new dynamic one by adding their PHP code into HTML.

8. PHP has a Huge Standard Library -

Libraries play a crucial role in simplifying and speeding the data processing ability of the language. Given that online visitors spend no-more than 8 seconds per webpage while they are on a surfing spree, website's loading time plays a crucial role in keeping them engaged on the website. PHP offers extensive support for HTTP fetching, regular expressions, URL parsing, and database drivers, to name but a few. It is true that the library is incoherent, but the community's on it!

9. PHP Delivers Exceptional Performance -

PHP improves speed of development as much as it improves speed of execution. Operating on a conventional web stack, PHP leverages the Apache web server and allows applications to leverage MySQL databases - allowing developers to create bespoke, one-stop solutions for online presence. Turnaround time is one of the most important factors that enhance performance of any website. PHP is known for its quick turnaround time. The large standard library, a diverse range of extensions, cross platform functionality, seamless integration with and customization of various CMS, and embed-ability allows experienced developers to offer exceptionally fast turnaround times at highly competitive rates. Further, any website that is developed using PHP has faster data processing features and that website is compatible on all operating system such as Windows, UNIX and so forth.

10. PHP offers Diverse Frameworks -

PHP is able to deliver exceptionally fast turnaround times because it has a sufficiently large family of PHP-frameworks. These range from the enterprise level Zend and Yii frameworks, all rounder Laravel and Sympfony, performance optimizers like Phalcon, and PHPixie for speedy application designs or Code igniter for more robust ones.