Research & Documentation 01 Php History

PHP History

Who and Why?

PHP, or “PHP: Hypertext Preprocessor”, was created in 1994 by Danish-Canadian programmer Rasmus Lerdorf. The first incarnation of PHP was created in 1994 under the name PHP/FI (Forms Interpreter), and its initial use was to track visits to Lerdorf’s online resume. In June 1995, it was rewritten to include more functionality and released to the public as “Personal Home Page (PHP) Tools.” PHP was used to log web page access, interact with databases, easily create forms, and create simple web tools such as guestbooks or website visitor counters.

In 1997, programmers Andi Gutmans and Zeev Suraski began redeveloping the underlying source code to help them power an eCommerce application, finding the current iteration lacking in functionality. They reached out to Lerdorf to discuss some of the drawbacks of PHP/FI 2.0 (the then-current iteration of PHP) and what could be implemented to improve its functionality, and together the three re-released it as PHP 3.0 in June of 1998. More features were released over time which allowed PHP to aid in the development of websites by making the entire process more dynamic. Users would have to rely less on writing static HTML code and could implement PHP code to streamline and improve the process. This improved functionality led to it being utilized on more than just personal domains, and larger companies and programs began using PHP as an integral part of their creation and management.

PHP Environment

PHP was designed to run as a server-side script. Unlike client-side scripts, any code entered in a PHP file is processed entirely on the server, which delivers the web page to the end user in standard HTML. PHP code will not appear in a web page’s source code, and any pages built using PHP includes will only display the page as an HTML document. Server-side scripts have access to the operating system of the server, unlike HTML or CSS, which only allow limited access to certain files on the server. Other server-side scripting languages include Python, Ruby, and C#.

Usage of PHP on the Internet

Today, PHP is broadly used across many websites. Sitting at the 13th most popular programming language as of August 2024, it is utilized by such websites and programs as WordPress, Facebook, Wikipedia, Yahoo, Spotify, and many more. PHP is commonly used in dynamic website creation, web app development, content management systems, online store creation, web API creation, data exchange, task automation, and maintaining existing or legacy applications. In the coming years, PHP will continue to play an important role in web development, particularly in the fields of blockchain development and AI/machine learning integration. PHP is continuously being updated with new features to reflect the ever-changing and expanding needs of web development.

Summary

Rasmus Lerdorf created PHP in 1994 to track visitors to his online resume, refining it with its official release in 1995 to include tools to aid in dynamic website management. Over several iterations, changes, and updates to its source code, it grew to become a powerful and popular server-side scripting language that is utilized in many successful and well-known sites across the web today. PHP contains a handy set of tools to make creating and maintaining websites much easier for developers.

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