What is PHP and what is it used for?

PHP, a recursive acronym for “PHP: Hypertext Preprocessor,” is an open-source programming language specifically designed for server-side web development. Created in 1994 by Rasmus Lerdorf as a simple set of scripts to manage his personal website, it quickly evolved into a complete and powerful language adopted by millions of developers worldwide. Unlike JavaScript, which runs in the user’s browser, PHP runs on the server: this means the code is processed before the page is sent to the client, and the end user receives only the resulting HTML without ever seeing the source code.

One of PHP’s historical strengths is its ease of integration with databases, particularly MySQL, which made it possible to create dynamic websites in a relatively fast and accessible way. This combination, often referred to as the LAMP stack (Linux, Apache, MySQL, PHP), dominated web development for more than a decade and gave rise to some of the most widely used software projects in the world, including WordPress, Wikipedia and Facebook in its early stages. PHP allows developers to manage user sessions, process forms, generate dynamic pages and interact with databases, covering most of the needs of a traditional web application.

Despite the growing competition from more modern languages such as Python, Ruby and Node.js, PHP remains today one of the most widely used server-side languages on the web, with a still very significant market share. Recent versions, starting from PHP 7 and PHP 8, have introduced substantial improvements in terms of performance, security and language features, bringing it closer to the standards of its competitors. Frameworks such as Laravel and Symfony have also helped modernize its image, offering solid tools for building complex and well-structured applications. PHP therefore remains a concrete and relevant technology, especially for those working with content management systems or medium-scale web applications.