What is PHP?

[Throntel]

I hear alot of person say they use php for their websites, but I still havn't quite figured out what it's all about. What is it exactly? When you compair it with things like flash, html and javascript, what can PHP do, that they cannot?
I also hear alot about it when it comes to security, that's the main reason I want to know more about it as I'm trying to get some type of login area on my website.
And also many times when people mention php they also mention mysql, is this something that works good together?

If you could add a couple links to some free tutorials for php or mysql aswell that would be great Thanks for your time.

[Accurax]

PHP stands for Perpetual Hormone Prescription, and its a means by which your very mood can be effected directly by an intravenal injection of potassium chlorinate directly into the main nervous system... It can be very usefull for creating a desired effect when someone visits your site.


Sorry, I'm drunk .......

In actual fact i think PHP origionally stood for Personal Home Page (correct me if im wrong), it was i believe origionally designed to be a sort of "dynamic html" back in the day.

However, its current use is far more usefull, especially when paired with MySQL (which is a database management language), php can communicate with a mysql database and provide your site with true interactivity.

Many other languages can also acheive this, ASP & SQl for example.... but the great advantage of PHP is that it is freely availible under the free software licence aggreement..... this explains its popularity.

As for inherrent security benefitts...... I personally do not believe such a thing exists..... a programs security depends soley on the competanxce of the programmer, and the level of the hacker attacking it.

PHP does however provide you with the tools to create successfull security in your database's.

For more information, may i suggest http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Main_Page and search for PHP and sql.

If you want to learn to use php... http://www.w3schools.com is an amazing place to start.

Now...... back to my fantasy involving chemicals and killer computers

[masonbarge]

I'm not on your case, Throntel, but I'm always surprised when people make a post here asking for links instead of just googling "php tutorial".

PHP is a little like javascript, with one huge difference: it runs on the server instead of on the user's browser. It really excels two things: 1) handling forms, because it is so good at manipulating data, and 2) providing access to a database. It is good at a lot of smaller things, too, e.g. you write one header and import it into every page. So if you want to change it, you only change it once.

It's pretty much a comprehensive language, because it generates html. You can write an entire webpage in PHP and the user will never know the difference (except the URI usually ends in .php instead of .html).