Lecture 02
What is PHP
PHP, which stands for Hypertext Preprocessor, is a widely used server-side scripting language designed for web development. It is especially well-suited for creating dynamic and interactive web pages. PHP code is embedded within HTML code and processed on the server side, generating HTML content that is then sent to the client's web browser.
Key features and aspects of PHP include:
Server-Side Scripting: PHP is a server-side scripting language, meaning that the PHP code is executed on the server before the resulting HTML is sent to the client's browser. This is in contrast to client-side scripting languages like JavaScript, which run in the browser.
Open Source: PHP is an open-source language, and its interpreter is freely available. This has contributed to its widespread use and popularity.
Ease of Learning: PHP is relatively easy to learn, especially for those who have experience with C-style languages. It is often chosen by beginners as their first server-side scripting language.
Integration with HTML: PHP code can be embedded directly into HTML, making it easy to mix dynamic content with static content on web pages.
Database Connectivity: PHP supports a wide range of databases, including MySQL, PostgreSQL, SQLite, and others. This makes it well-suited for building database-driven web applications.
Community and Documentation: PHP has a large and active community, which means there is a wealth of online resources, tutorials, and forums available for developers. Additionally, PHP has extensive documentation that is regularly updated.
Platform Independence: PHP runs on various platforms, including Windows, Linux, macOS, and others, making it versatile for different hosting environments.
Frameworks: There are several PHP frameworks, such as Laravel, Symfony, and CodeIgniter, that provide pre-built modules and components to streamline the development process and promote best practices.
PHP is commonly used in combination with other technologies, such as HTML, CSS, JavaScript, and databases, to create dynamic and interactive websites. It has been a foundational technology for web development for many years and continues to be widely used in the industry.
Variables in PHP
Variable names start with a dollar sign $. Variable names are case-sensitive. PHP more commonly similar to other programing languages like syntax.
PHP Data Types
PHP supports various data types such as integers, floats, strings, booleans, arrays, and objects.
Concatenation in PHP
Concatenation is used to join multiple strings and variables into one string.
Use the dot (.) for string concatenation.