2.1. About PHP

PHP is a language optimized for generating dynamic Web sites. Theoretically it can also be used as an ordinary programming language, but only a few people use PHP that way because this is not the purpose PHP has been optimized for.

Back in 1994 Rasmus Lerdorf was looking for an easy method to program his personal Web server. He called his first attempt “Personal Home Page Tools.” As you can easily imagine, these tools were basically designed for satisfying his personal demands—at this early stage, nobody was thinking of something big like the PHP of today.

In 1995 these tools became more professional. A version called PHP/FI (Personal Home Page Tools/Form Interface) was released. This was the first version of PHP that really made ...

Get PHP and PostgreSQL: Advanced Web Programming now with the O’Reilly learning platform.

O’Reilly members experience books, live events, courses curated by job role, and more from O’Reilly and nearly 200 top publishers.