Most of the best things about PHP are the things that appeal to beginners:
Easy learning curve. No other language is as easy for a beginner to begin and get some visible results.
Java/Python/Ruby/C++ all require you to know OOP and frameworks and stuff.
PHP is installed on every web hosting server.
PHP does something useful: presents a web page, instead of something useless (to the beginner), like defining “main”.
PHP is free, and its PHP software license is permissive (i.e. not GNU).
PHP has many extensions in its default distribution. Some people say it’s a negative to have so many functions, but consider that beginners don’t have to learn how to install libraries to get started.
The most popular CMS apps are written in PHP (e.g. WordPress, Drupal, Joomla!).
PHP was first released in 1995; PHP 4 released in 2000; PHP 5 released in 2004. Is it a surprise that PHP became popular at a time when the only other web development options were Perl CGI, Java JSP, and ColdFusion?
It’s stateless, opcode-compiling allows for a really quick develop-test-debug-fix-deploy cycle.
It’s written to serve as a templating language itself, so view layer code is easy to understand, and doesn’t require some pseudo-template language (though it doesn’t prevent its possibility).
While people complain about the function spaghetti, having a procedural *and* an object-oriented way to approach problems (sometimes at the same time) is very appealing to people who think either way.
Along with that, it’s pretty good about keeping up with the status quo. The latest goodies in 5.3—namespaces and closures just to name a few—keep it in competition with the newer platforms on the scene.
1. First thing is php is open source – Free means anyone can download without paying a single penny
2. Don’t need to attend any special course to learn PHP. We can learn it by ourselves on our self interest
3. C,C++ are basic to PHP.
4. Both CMS and Frameworks in PHP made our coding easy, hence we can alter the code based on our or client requirements.
