The PHP Hypertext Preprocessor (PHP) is a programming language
that allows web developers to create dynamic content that interacts
with databases.
PHP is basically used for developing web based software applications.
This tutorial helps you to build your base with PHP.
You can practice PHP online using compileonline.com
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Audience:
This tutorial is designed for PHP programmers who are completely
unaware of PHP concepts but they have basic understanding on computer
programming.
Prerequisites:
Before proceeding with this tutorial you should have at least basic
understanding of computer programming, Internet, Database, and MySQL
etc is very helpful.
PHP started out as a small open source project that evolved as more
and more people found out how useful it was. Rasmus Lerdorf unleashed
the first version of PHP way back in 1994.
- PHP is a recursive acronym for "PHP: Hypertext Preprocessor".
- PHP is a server side scripting language that is embedded in
HTML. It is used to manage dynamic content, databases, session
tracking, even build entire e-commerce sites.
- It is integrated with a number of popular databases, including
MySQL, PostgreSQL, Oracle, Sybase, Informix, and Microsoft SQL Server.
- PHP is pleasingly zippy in its execution, especially when
compiled as an Apache module on the Unix side. The MySQL server, once
started, executes even very complex queries with huge result sets in
record-setting time.
- PHP supports a large number of major protocols such as POP3,
IMAP, and LDAP. PHP4 added support for Java and distributed object
architectures (COM and CORBA), making n-tier development a possibility
for the first time.
- PHP is forgiving: PHP language tries to be as forgiving as possible.
- PHP Syntax is C-Like.
Common uses of PHP:
- PHP performs system functions, i.e. from files on a system it can create, open, read, write, and close them.
- PHP can handle forms, i.e. gather data from files, save data to a file, thru email you can send data, return data to the user.
- You add, delete, modify elements within your database thru PHP.
- Access cookies variables and set cookies.
- Using PHP, you can restrict users to access some pages of your website.
- It can encrypt data.
Characteristics of PHP
Five important characteristics make PHP's practical nature possible:
- Simplicity
- Efficiency
- Security
- Flexibility
- Familiarity
"Hello World" Script in PHP:
To get a feel for PHP, first start with simple PHP scripts. Since
"Hello, World!" is an essential example, first we will create a
friendly little "Hello, World!" script.
As mentioned earlier, PHP is embedded in HTML. That means that in
amongst your normal HTML (or XHTML if you're cutting-edge) you'll have
PHP statements like this:
<html>
<head>
<title>Hello World</title>
<body>
<?php echo "Hello, World!";?>
</body>
</html>
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It will produce following result:
If you examine the HTML output of the above example, you'll notice
that the PHP code is not present in the file sent from the server to
your Web browser. All of the PHP present in the Web page is processed
and stripped from the page; the only thing returned to the client from
the Web server is pure HTML output.
All PHP code must be included inside one of the three special markup tags ate are recognised by the PHP Parser.
<?php PHP code goes here ?>
<? PHP code goes here ?>
<script language="php"> PHP code goes here </script>
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Most common tag is the <?php...?> and we will also use same tag in our tutorial.
From the next chapter we will start with PHP Environment Setup on
your machine and then we will dig out almost all concepts related to
PHP to make you comfortable with the PHP language.
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