Introduction
In the last few years, we have seen tremendous growth in the number of websites over the internet. Websites now have become a necessity, for businesses looking to mark their online presence. If we talk in numbers, there are more than 1.74 billion websites over the internet as of 2023, and this number is not constant, it is continuously increasing each day. Entrepreneurs are always in search of the best programming language, or framework, for their projects, to one-up their websites/web apps from their competitors’.
PHP is one such programming language that has been used in several web projects for the past two decades. PHP has been used by about 78.9% of all websites, of whose server-side programming language we know. It makes it to be almost 8 out of every 10 websites that we all see over the Internet, which use the components of PHP in some way or the other, there are many reasons why PHP development services were and are, in high demand even after so many more advanced technologies have developed.
Now the question arises that: Why people are still using PHP for their web development OR what makes PHP still popular in 2023. So, to answer these questions, let us first understand a little more about PHP and its advantages.
What is PHP?
Hypertext Pre-processor i.e. PHP is one of the most used server-side programming languages. Using this language, one can easily develop highly scalable, dynamic, and robust websites and web apps for their businesses. Developed by Rasmus Lerdorf in the year 1994, this language has been the major component in some of the highly popular websites.
Websites developed using PHP can run on all the major operating systems. PHP is one of the most sought-after programming languages, to develop fast, secure, and dynamic web pages, for all types of websites and web apps.
Advantages of using PHP
PHP is one of the top picks among developers all over the world as it offers some of the greatest advantages, which one can avail of for their web development project. Here are some of the main advantages, which make this language the most used language to date.
1. Open Source
PHP is an open-source programming language, i.e. it is absolutely free to use, and entrepreneurs do not have to pay any additional cost or any sort of license fees to use this language. This is great for people who have a limited budget for their web development projects.
2. Active Community
PHP has a large community of developers working with it. They are quite active and are always ready to help. Whenever PHP developers get stuck somewhere, they can easily take help from this active community. They are also responsible for sharing updates, suggestions, and improvisations related to this language, which helps PHP to improve and always running in the league. Due to its large developers’ community, PHP development companies love working with this language.
3. Scalability
While getting a website or web app developed for a business, one of the first things which an entrepreneur seeks, while choosing the programming language or a framework for their web development project, is scalability. They always look for a language that can help the website by handling continuously increasing traffic.
Web solutions developed with PHP can easily be extended and are capable of handling a large number of users. PHP developers achieve this task by adding a few more servers. Also, PHP is compatible with all web browsers, so scalability will not be an issue with this language.
Read Also: Top PHP Web Development Frameworks
4. High Speed
There are several reasons why PHP rules the world of web development, and high speed is one of them. The loading time for PHP based websites is much less as compared to other languages, as PHP uses its own memory, and due to this, the processing speed is relatively higher as compared to other languages. Developers love working with this language due to its easy deployment. Even if your developers are not very much experienced, they can easily develop your website really fast. Even today, this is one of the strongest benefits of PHP.
5. Customizations
PHP has several rich libraries and easy to use tools, which allows a developer to create a customized website or web app for your project. Developers can create the design which exactly fits the requirements of the client. Many developers use PHP with other languages like Java or Ruby, which all the more increases the functionality, and developers can create a customized fully-functional website for your business.
6. Frameworks and Updates
PHP is very easy to use language. Also, with the new versions and updates PHP has become all the stronger and better. Many new frameworks of PHP like Symfony, Laravel, Lamina, Yii, Cake, Code Igniter, have been introduced in the market, which was developed to make things easier and more convenient. These frameworks have everything in which PHP lags. As per the developers, some outstanding features make PHP Laravel Framework best in the industry.
All these frameworks come with easy to use modules and libraries which speed up the development process. They create a sort of ecosystem that enables PHP to work faster. Developers love using the latest versions of PHP as they come with rich functionalities and are capable of creating interactive design and features for your web development project. For example, WordPress, a highly popular CMS, is developed using PHP, and it has pretty much everything which businesses require.
Why people still prefer using PHP?
Many big giants have been using PHP as their major development language while there are many using the components of PHP for many of their projects. Some of the major websites that have been developed with PHP are Facebook, Yahoo, WordPress, Wikipedia, and many more.
Some people believe that over time PHP has become obsolete, however, this is not the case. There are several reasons why both, developers and entrepreneurs, prefer using this language for their web development project. Flexibility, nativity, multiple integration opportunities, high speed, and others top the list of why PHP is preferred for web development services. Apart from this, PHP is one such language that can adapt itself really well, with the latest web development and digital transformation trends, which helps keep your website ahead of your competitors.
Here are some ways how PHP can be integrated with the latest technologies and trends:
1. PHP and Cloud Computing
Storing a large amount of data is one of the major concerns for many businesses. Most businesses are investing a lot of money in creating cloud infrastructures. As per a leading web development company, PHP and cloud services complement each other really well. PHP is their go-to technology, which is not only cost-effective but also allows them to create scalable and secure web solutions.
2. PHP and IoT
IoT is one of the hottest topics in the web development world. It opens up several new opportunities for businesses. Also, one of the widely used technologies that developers love using with IoT is PHP. PHP and IoT blend together seamlessly to create unimaginable solutions to explore the digital world.
Also, frameworks like Laravel, Symfony, and CodeIgniter were developed to fulfill all the IoT development requirements. They have rich libraries and ready to use modules, which makes IoT development easier.
3. PHP and Chatbots
Chatbots have become quintessential for every business out there. They are one of the best solutions to stay connected with your users, even after your business’s working hours are over. AI-powered chatbots are great for making conversations just like humans. They can be used to answer questions, solve queries, and lot more.
Read Also: How Much Does It Cost to Develop a Chatbot
PHP is one of the top-picks by chatbot developers to create interactive and engaging solutions. Being an open-source language, it has some outstanding tools and frameworks that can help you create conversational and secure chatbots in no time.
Conclusion
Over time we have seen a lot of improvements with this language. Some languages lose their charm and popularity over time. However, with PHP, it has been quite the opposite. Over the years, we have seen no decline in either its demand its popularity. PHP has always emerged as one of the handiest and easy to use language for developing both large-scale and small-scale products. PHP is highly capable of doing diverse tasks like data gathering, redirection, integration with mobile, etc.
If you are also looking to hire PHP developer, you must hire the one, who has both experience and expertise in working with this language. Websites developed using PHP can run on almost all major operating systems and also, this language supports many database options, like MSSQL, IBM, DB2, Oracle, and more. This makes the handling of data easier and facilitates the agile development process. PHP is a classic language that can never go out of the developing world and it will be among the top priorities of both, developers and entrepreneurs.
