Basic PHP Programming

What more benefits of using PHP? Can’t the list be longer? Okay, okay… I’m getting to it.

PHP is customizable. Again, a nod to its being open source. That fact allows programmers access to core elements of the language (to the point of letting them extend the language) to modify the PHP software as needed to suit their own needs. This way, PHP softwares are always getting improvements. Imagine, a thousand of programmers working on the PHP code making the program dynamic – just perfect for the constantly changing Web.

Whew. Is that it? The last three posts are just the base, and more of the icing on the next posts.

Here are more reasons why PHP is such a dear:

PHP has a very widely available technical support, which comes along with its being open-source. There are a lot of e-mail discussion lists and groups that offer help and support on the . These lists cover a variety of topics – from PHP and databases to PHP on Windows, and of course those usual issues that beginners encounter. What else? Well, it is secure. You won’t have to worry because other users will not see the PHP code (as long as your scripts are correct, that is). See, two more reasons why you should get acquainted with PHP!

There are too many Content Management Products in the market today. Too many in fact, that you wouldn’t know which to choose anymore. This can place you in a difficult situation because these products are not all unique in themselves. Therefore, you may make the mistake of picking one which you think seems to be the best product, then later regret when it turns out to be otherwise.

So, when do you get a Content Management Product? First, decide whether or not you really need one. If you believe you have the need, then proceed in getting one. Second, determine your company’s policy on development technologies, open source and hosted solutions. For all you know, getting a Content Management Product may not get along with the applications your company prefers to use.

Contrary to common notion, programming is not really hard, at least at present. Compared to the earlier days of programming about more than twenty years ago when it was totally alien to most people, nowadays, almost anyone can learn this skill. It’s true that during the infant stage of programming there were learning books to assist those who wanted to study and train in this field. However, we are luckier now because there are tutorials, mostly online, that can help us in developing programming skills.

On the other hand though, undergoing tutorials either online or in actual location should be boosted by one’s perseverance and interest. Perseverance requires the learner to read tutorial lessons and later try out some actual programming work while interest pushes the person to really want to acquire and learn said ability.

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PHP 5.3 was recently released as an update and it features namespaces, PHP archive files, and garbage collection upgrade for web functionalities, server-side. It is said that the recent upgrade works much better now with Windows. The PHP community has definitely worked very hard on creating a better binary pack for Windows PHP. It now includes Microsoft compilers and it will definitely improve performance. There are also other libraries that are highlighted for Windows PHP applications. Garbage collection will surely improve the memory usage. What it will do is avoid certain conditions that could make it prone to memory leakage.Namespaces on the other hand is a functionality that enables PHP code mix and match form different sources.

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Why not exhibit some output onto the screen? It is in truth much easier to achieve with PHP. All you have to do is use PHP language construct called echo and we are done. Here’s how..
Open a blank new file in your editor or notepad and write the below talk about lines in the file. Then save the file with a .php extension. If you are using notepad as editor then be careful about the file extension. In Windows OS the file extensions are often hidden, so you must ensure that file saved has a .php extension.
If that is the exact output on your browser, then it is a success!!! We are on a good start. If you did not see this output, then perhaps PHP was not installed or configured properly. Note that if the PHP file is prompted to be downloaded in your browser, then PHP is not installed or configured properly as the file with .php extension is not being parsed. Please refer to your installation procedure.

XP or Extreme Programming is a software that includes the main aspects of software development such as specification, design, development and testing. It also addresses communication and planning as well as code management.

To put it straight, XP deals with the whole progress phase from the first stage through the testing, release and further development. This application is suited for projects that require speed or those which are bound to change during the duration of the project. With this, the client is benefited because he is likely to get more input. XP likewise promotes a dynamic association between everyone involved in the conceptualization of the whole process.

PHP was designed to solve what I (and others, such as PHP’s creator, Rasmus Ledorf) call “The Web Problem,” by which we mean the challenges found in the creation of dynamic server-side applications on the Internet or on an intranet.

PHP was created to–and continues to evolve to–solve this single problem, which perhaps is the biggest reason why it’s been a (if not “the”) Internet programming language of choice for such a long time. In fact, PHP is the fourth most popular programming language in the world, according to the TIOBE Programming Community Index, above C++, Perl, Python and Ruby. (In all fairness, this probably represents the reality that more people are writing web applications and are turning to a language designed to solve that problem.)