What Is Zend? and What Is PHP?

The name Zend refers to the language engine, PHP's core. The term PHP refers to the complete system as it appears from the outside. This might sound a bit confusing at first, but it's not that complicated (see Figure 9.1). To implement a Web script interpreter, you need three parts:

  • The interpreter part analyzes the input code, translates it, and executes it.

  • The functionality part implements the functionality of the language (its functions, etc.).

  • The interface part talks to the Web server, etc.

Zend takes part 1 completely and a bit of part 2, PHP takes parts 2 and 3. Together they form the complete PHP package. Zend itself really forms only the language core, implementing PHP at its very basics with some predefined ...

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