PHP Programming

Way back in 1994, PHP was developed as a small open-source project. Word quickly spread in the open-source community about how useful it was in the creation of websites. Since then it has evolved, and re-evolved, becoming more refined and increasingly effective at every stage.

Today, PHP is the most popular scripting language in use for Internet websites. In addition to being used to create and manage dynamic (vs. static) content, PHP can also work with multiple types of databases, has tracking capabilities, and in some cases, can even be used to build entire websites. PHP is particularly compatible with MySQL databases.

All these other capabilities aside, however, dynamic content management is what PHP does best. Dynamic content is much easier to manage than static content. With a static page, any time information changes, that data has to be rebuilt "by hand" on each page, page-by-page. Dynamic web content, on the other hand, automatically pulls information directly from the database. Make the change in the database, and the change is instantly reflecting on the Web page: Prices, colors, new stock, out of stock, etcetera. Dynamic web content reduces staff workload, and improves the customer experience.

PHP: Advantages

Being an open source product gives PHP dual advantages. One, the technology evolves fast, fast, fast, so that users can always be at the forefront of efficiency. Two, it's free of licensing fees and usage restrictions. These two advantages, combined with a reputed "low learning curve" for programmers, and the fact that PHP pages can be created and edited much in the way as simple HTML pages, helps to explain PHP's massive popularity in the e-commerce world.