PHP Full Form

The full form of PHP is Hypertext Preprocessor. Previously it was abbreviated as Personal Home Page. It is a programming language widely used to create various web applications or websites. It is the server-side scripting language encoded with HTML to develop varieties of Dynamic website, Static website or Web applications. It was developed in the year 1994 by Rasmus Lerdorf. PHP ‘s syntax is analogous to different programming languages such as C, C++, and Java. It handles dynamic Websites, dynamic content, cookie database, session all at once.

What is PHP Full Form?

PHP is an open source language which is used by the developers for web development and making various projects such as Graphical User Interfaces (GUIs). Initially, PHP Full form was Personal Homepage. Now, it is a recursive acronym for Hypertext Preprocessor. As per data, the first version of PHP was launched 26 years ago. Now it is on version 8 which was released in November 2020, but version 7 still remains the most widely and commonly used.

Specification and Details of PHP

• PHP design is simple in nature because the programming languages like C or C++ are not used. It contains plenty of predefined functions to protect the users information. The execution of PHP begins at and ends with the sequence's simple structure.
• It is an open-source language so that it can be freely and easily downloaded and put to work
• Apart from the session management features, PHP 4.0 uses ‘resource allocation mechanisms’ and object-oriented programming. In addition to this, it removes the unnecessary allocation of memory
• PHP supports many authentication functions to back up the data in the system
• It is considered as a very flexible language because it can be embedded in many other languages, including CSS, HTML, JavaScript, XML etc
• Apart from this, PHP code can also be executed and made use on any device such as Tabs, Phone, Laptops etc
• In PHP 4.0 the introduction of ‘object-oriented programming operations’ is done

Usage of PHP

• Facebook- Facebook majorly uses PHP to power and boost its site. In turn, the company contributed to the community by creating an implementation known as HipHop for PHP
• Wikipedia- One of the world's largest platforms with sources of information on any topic, Wikipedia is built in PHP which makes it more important
• Content Management Systems (CMSs)- The world's most popular content management and organizing system, WordPress, is built in PHP. Other content management systems such as Drupal, Joomla and Magento are also built in PHP. Also, the shopping website Shopify runs on PHP too.
• Web Hosting Platforms- A lot of Web Hosting Platforms such as BlueHost, Site ground and Whogohost run their hosting servers using PHP as it is easier to use.

Advantages of PHP

1. PHP is integrated and database with many other programming languages such as CSS, HTML, JavaScript etc which becomes easy to use.
2. PHP can easily run on all Operating Systems such as Linux, Windows, Unix etc. Therefore, it is known as platform-independent. One does not have to depend on a particular OS.
3. Connecting to the database makes it easy to store and retrieve data. 
4. PHP is an open source which means it can also be built via multiple databases. The original code is available for everyone who wants to build upon it which makes the framework popular.
5. Compared with other scripting languages, PHP is the fastest programming language which can be learnt easily by anyone who has basic programming knowledge.
6. The PHP structures and tools are used to safeguard web apps from external attacks, threats and viruses which makes it viable.
7. PHP stands as a popular choice when it comes to security as many encrypted functions are supported by PHP to secure the data.

Disadvantages of PHP

• Error handling is not suitable for a PHP framework which makes it difficult to carry out the programme
• Since its maintenance is difficult, PHP is not considered appropriate for broad applications and usage
• As PHP is open-source so all programmers can see its code. If there are any bugs in the program code or any prevalent errors, then its weak point can be discovered by other programmers and testers

What are PHP functions?

PHP function is a piece of code that can be reused multiple times by declaring and calling user friendly functions easily. It can take input as an argument list and return values which can be called as PHP function arguments. Also, there are thousands of built-in functions in PHP. Various symbols and numbers should be used carefully.In PHP, we can define various functions such as Conditional function, Function within Function and Recursive function also. Various advantages of PHP Functions are given below:

• Code Reusability- PHP functions are defined only once and can be invoked and the code can be used many times, like in other programming languages.
• Less Code-It saves a lot of code and time because you don't need to write the logic or function many times. By the use of a function, you can write the logic only once and reuse it as many times as possible.
• Easy to understand- PHP functions separate the programming logic and functions. So, it is easier to understand the flow of the application because every logic is divided in the form of functions which can be used by the users easily.

PHP Comparison with HTML

The PHP script can be easily integrated with HTML files and users can even write HTML codes in PHP scripts. Various websites like www.yahoo.com and www.facebook.com are the most popular websites that are developed on PHP. In the initial stage, PHP codes are executed on the server and later the results are transferred to the browser. Users and the only data that can be browsed will be the results that are restored on the server after running the program, but the actual PHP script is present in the PHP file. One of the significant differences between HTML and PHP codes is that HTML codes can be rendered directly by browsing, whereas PHP codes are executed on the server.

Use of PHP in Client Servicing

In the modern era of technology, client servicing has become one of the important aspects of business. With this, the use and application of PHP has also increased. The use of PHP in the client servicing model has been given below in detail:

Creating Content for Advertising Display

The use of PHP is put into use in the creation of smart, flashy, and short texts for advertising. This smart, in-store headphone-check digital signage stand uses PHP to allow users to compare and contrast multiple models at the same time. This includes a playlist of test tracks, the ability to tell and direct the stand’s app what model a customer wants, and the production of graphs comparing models for a customer to understand in an effective way. 

Chain ticket booking for Movie Theatre

Movie theatre ticket booking especially in the European countries has modernized its mobile ticketing app to include and showcase the seat plans, notifications, and in-depth information about their movies. Using PHP, the app can provide customers with a choice of showtimes, theaters, and seat types at the customer’s convenience.

Content for Augmented Reality Advertising Displays

The manufacturer of digital interactive advertising and entertainment displays for stores and shopping malls needs an administrative panel to create and manage the content for these large screens. So, they choose the technology and application to create an administrative control that would allow either the display maker or the local store or mall user to control and manage the content. In such a case, the PHP also made it possible to control the displays remotely using a web application in a convenient manner.

Management of a Central Database of the College

In countries such as the U.S., the provider of a database with various information on U.S. colleges, admissions, and scholarship details worked solely with imports of information from Excel spreadsheets. They needed a cloud-based information management solution to store their large volumes of data, integrate with other software, and automate data reporting to their clients without handling much pressure and complexities. In this aspect of storing and managing the database, PHP, among other languages and tools, helped build this solution.