"The PHP reference implementation is now produced by the PHP Group. PHP was originally created by Danish-Canadian programmer Rasmus Lerdorf in 1993 and released in 1995."
A popular server-side scripting language for building dynamic web pages and web applications.
Basic syntax: A fundamental aspect of any programming language, including PHP.
Variables: An essential concept in programming related to storing and manipulating data.
Data types: The different types of values that can be stored in a variable, including strings, integers, and arrays.
Operators: Symbols used to perform mathematical or logical operations on data.
Control structures: Constructs used to make decisions and control the flow of execution in a program.
Functions: Reusable blocks of code that perform a specific task.
Arrays: A collection of data that can be indexed and looped through.
Strings: A set of characters that can be manipulated in various ways.
Objects: A programming paradigm that allows for the creation of more complex data structures.
Classes: A blueprint for an object in object-oriented programming.
Methods: Functions that are associated with an object or class.
File handling: Methods for reading and writing data to and from files on a computer.
Exceptions: Error handling mechanisms that allow for graceful handling of errors in a program.
Regular expressions: A powerful tool for pattern matching and validation of input.
MySQL: A widely used database management system, used with PHP to store and retrieve data.
HTTP and web requests: An understanding of how web applications communicate and make requests for data.
Forms and form validation: Input and validation of user input in web forms.
Session management: Handling and storage of session data in a web application.
Cookies: Storing and retrieving data on a user's computer in a web application.
File upload and processing: Uploading files to a web server and processing them.
Security: Best practices for securing a web application, including protection against SQL injection attacks and cross-site scripting attacks.
Server-side scripting: This type of PHP is used to generate HTML and other types of content dynamically from the server before sending it to the client-side browser.
Command-line scripting: This type of PHP allows developers to execute scripts using the command-line interface rather than through a web browser.
Object-oriented programming: This approach to programming encourages the use of objects or structures that contain data and their relevant actions or methods. PHP supports this methodology.
Web application frameworks: PHP web development frameworks provide a structured approach to developing web applications scalable, maintainable, and fast.
Database programming: PHP is capable of programming databases such as MySQL, PostgreSQL, Oracle, and SQLite.
Web services: PHP developers use web service to create an interoperable software system to direct communication and data exchange between remote applications over the network.
Content management systems: These are applications that allow developers to set up, manage, and publish digital content usually known as web pages or websites. PHP Content Management System's used in web development include WordPress, Joomla, Drupal.
E-commerce development: This type of PHP web development involves setting up online shopping carts, payment gateways, and integrating payment systems.
Multilingual websites: PHP allows developers to build multilingual websites that support multiple languages.
Mobile application programming: PHP developers can use it to build server-side components and APIs for mobile applications.
"PHP originally stood for Personal Home Page, but it now stands for the recursive initialism PHP: Hypertext Preprocessor."
"PHP code is usually processed on a web server by a PHP interpreter implemented as a module, a daemon, or a Common Gateway Interface (CGI) executable."
"The result of the interpreted and executed PHP code—which may be any type of data, such as generated HTML or binary image data—would form the whole or part of an HTTP response."
"Yes, various web template systems, web content management systems, and web frameworks exist that can be employed to orchestrate or facilitate the generation of that response."
"Yes, PHP can be used for many programming tasks outside the web context, such as standalone graphical applications and robotic drone control."
"The standard PHP interpreter, powered by the Zend Engine, is free software released under the PHP License."
"Yes, PHP has been widely ported and can be deployed on most web servers on a variety of operating systems and platforms."
"No, the PHP language evolved without a written formal specification or standard until 2014, with the original implementation acting as the de facto standard."
"W3Techs reports that as of September 2023, 'PHP is used by 77.0% of all the websites whose server-side programming language we know.'"
"W3Techs reports that only 16.7% of PHP users use the currently supported 8.x versions."
"Most PHP users, by far, use the unsupported PHP 7, more specifically PHP 7.4."
"20% of PHP users use PHP 5, which is not supported with security fixes and is known to have serious security vulnerabilities."
"Yes, Linux distributions such as Ubuntu and Debian provide commercial support, and they may provide security patches for some unsupported 7.x versions such as 7.4 of PHP."
"The PHP reference implementation is now produced by the PHP Group."
"PHP was originally created by Danish-Canadian programmer Rasmus Lerdorf in 1993 and released in 1995."
"PHP can be used for many programming tasks outside the web context, such as standalone graphical applications and robotic drone control."
"The standard PHP interpreter, powered by the Zend Engine, is free software released under the PHP License."
"PHP has been widely ported and can be deployed on most web servers on a variety of operating systems and platforms."
"W3Techs reports that as of September 2023, 'PHP is used by 77.0% of all the websites whose server-side programming language we know.'" (Note: The mentioned quotes may not be exact extracts from the paragraph, but rather paraphrased statements that address the study questions)