There are several different scripting languages developers
have to choose from when building applications such as ASP, JPS, Perl, CGI, and
PHP. The main debate recently has been b
Even though most developers try to learn as many languages
as possible in order to build their skills, knowledge of PHP is one of the most
in-demand skills that developers should have. Aside from the fact that knowing
how to use PHP will open new financial opportunities, here are some of the top
reasons developers should choose PHP scripting language.
1: Simple and easy to learn
PHP scripting is definitely one of the easiest, if not the
easiest scripting language to learn and grasp for developers. This is partially
due to the similarities PHP syntax has with C and Java. Even if the only
knowledge of development that you have is with HTML, picking up PHP is still
fairly easy. For developers just starting out, PHP is often the first scripting
language they learn because it’s clear and easy to understand.
2: Support
The last thing you want as a developer is to be “stuck” with
a coding issue and not have anywhere to go for help or answers. Since PHP is so
popular and widely used, finding help or documentation for PHP online is
extremely easy. The best part is the support is free through forums, PDFs,
blogs, and social media. The fact that it’s open source also contributes to the
large support community of PHP and LAMP (Linux, Apache, MySQL, and PHP) in
general. PHP has the largest user base of any scripting language.
3: Freedom
When comparing PHP to a language such as ASPX, the level of
freedom you get is far superior. As mentioned in reason #2, PHP is open source.
You can use any text editor in order to code PHP such as Notebook++, jEdit,
Emacs, Bluefish, or even just Notepad if you feel inclined. If you want to
develop applications with ASPX, you’re going to be limited to Microsoft Visual
Studio. Restrictions are never a good thing, especially with coding.
PHP also isn’t OS specific. You can run PHP on:
- Linux
- Mac OSX
- Windows
- UNIX
4: Free
There are no costs associated with using PHP, including
updates. Keeping costs down is a goal of any business and developers as well.
So the fact that you can code programs with PHP for free is a huge benefit that
you won’t get with JPS, ASP, or other scripting languages that require paid
hosting. There are no licenses, restrictions, or royalty fees involved at all.
PHP is 100% free for anyone to use.
5: Integration
PHP is used for so many web applications and actually powers
over 30% of the web. Systems such as MongoDB, Memcache, and Pusher all
integrate with PHP. Almost any industry you can think of uses PHP applications
in some fashion including banks, hospitals, government, and large corporations.
6: Frameworks
Almost every benefit of PHP seems to go back to the fact
that the community is so large. The number of PHP frameworks available is even
further proof of how strong the PHP community is. Whether you’re looking for
database access libraries, session management, or code reuse, you will have no
problem finding PHP frameworks to give you a helping hand. Some popular PHP
frameworks include:
- Aiki
- Symfony
- Zend
- Silex
- Slim
7: Easier to fix problems
When it comes to web application development, you’re bound
to run into issues and come across the occasional “fail”. But the benefit you
get with PHP is that problems aren’t as difficult to find and fix as they are
with other languages. This is because with each request, PHP cleans up and
starts over. So an issue with one request will not necessarily disrupt another.
8: Scalability
In the world of IT, the word scalability is like gold.
Whether you’re dealing with databases, hosting, or in this case, programming,
scalability is never a bad thing. Due to the way PHP is built, you can easily
increase your cluster size by adding more servers as your projects grow.
9: Object Oriented
PHP actually has the ability to call Java and Windows COM
objects. In addition to this, you can create custom classes. Other classes can
actually borrow from those custom classes as well which extends the
capabilities of PHP even further.
10: Speed
Since PHP does not use a lot of a system’s resources in
order to run, it operates much faster than other scripting languages. Hosting
PHP is also very easy and lot of hosts provide support for PHP. Even when used
with other software, PHP still retains speed without slowing down other
processes. Being that PHP is a mature language, it is also fairly stable
because all the kinks have been worked out over the years.
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