PHP: PHP stands for “PHP Hypertext Processor.” PHP is a coding language with a similar syntax to Perl or C; specifically, it is an open-source, HTML embedding, server-side scripting language used to create web pages and make them interactive. PHP can be used for three main purposes: sever side scripting, command line scripting or, less frequently, desktop application creation.
PHP can be used on its own, or in an HTML document. When used in conjunction with HTML, PHP is contained within its own tags, giving the programmer the ability to switch back and forth as desired. Though it is best known among casual or mid-level computer programmers for outputting HTML, PHP can also be used to output images, PDFs or Flash video.
PHP can be used on Linux, Unix variants, Microsoft Windows, Mac OSX and RISC OS. PHP is also popular due to its support for a wide range of databases.
PHP was, in nascent form, created by Rasmus Lerdorf in 1994. In its first incarnation, it was a simple set of binaries in the C programming language. Lerdorf, who used the scripts to count hits on his personal online resume, named them “Personal Home Page Tools.” The language has undergone numerous overhauls by many contributors since that time, with PHP 3.0 (scripted by Zeev Suraski and Andi Gutmans and announced in 1998) being the first version to resemble the contemporary code.