PHP Programming, 3rd Edition

“PHP Programming” won’t swamp you with every detail of the full PHP language up front – instead, you’ll be introduced to a small, versatile subset of PHP and learn to use it creatively to develop dynamic web sites. In the process you will learn to use variables, control structures, functions, and objects to your advantage. You will learn how to plan and create databases and how to organize your PHP scripts beautifully. At the end of the book, you will be a confident PHP user, ready to take the next steps in creating great websites.

When it comes to fundamental programming languages you should learn for web development, the answer is relatively clear: you can’t go wrong starting with the trio of HTML, CSS, and JavaScript. It can get a bit more murky though with some of the other languages you’ll hear mentioned in tech circles—specifically whether they’re helpful to learn as a web developer, and what exactly they’re used for. One programming language you’re sure to see referenced as you get familiar with tech is PHP. So what is it, and is it a useful programming language to learn for web development? PHP Is a Scripting Language PHP (an acronym for PHP: Hypertext Preprocessor) is a scripting language that’s generally used in “server-side” web development. (Don’t worry, I’ll explain exactly what this means below.) In order to sort it all out, it’s crucial to first understand what a scripting language is. Scripting languages (a family of programming languages including PHP as well as languages like JavaScript and Ruby) are a subset of coding languages used to automate processes that otherwise would need to be executed step-by-step in a site’s code every time they occur. This includes things like dialogue boxes opening on a screen in response to a user’s actions, chatbots responding to defined user behavior with corresponding messages, or animation that happens when a user scrolls past a certain point on a page—any dynamic website functions that need to occur on screen without the user having to manually reload a site. Scripting languages like PHP are distinct from markup languages like HTML and CSS in the sense that while HTML and CSS determine the layout and look of web pages, scripting languages tell a static web page (built with HTML and CSS) to “do” specific actions. If you’ve spent any time reading about JavaScript, this might sound familiar. So is PHP just another way of accomplishing the things you can do with JavaScript? Not exactly. PHP Is Used For Server-Side Scripting As mentioned previously, PHP is typically used as a server-side language (as opposed to a language like JavaScript that’s generally executed on the client-side). So what does that mean? In programming terms, client-side refers to website activity that takes place locally on a user’s computer through the user’s web browser. Client-side languages like HTML, CSS, and JavaScript give instructions that web browsers can parse and translate into content on your computer screen. Notice JavaScript (a scripting language like PHP) is on that list. Again, the processes scripted by JavaScript take place on the client-side—JS provides instructions that can be understood by and executed in your web browser. Client-side is the side you see when you’re using the internet. On the other hand, server-side activity involves a web browser sending requests to a web server (the software or hardware that stores a websites pages, images, media, and other assets), which then responds to the request with HTML code that can be processed and rendered by the web browser and turned into content on the user’s screen.


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