Web Development Beginner

What is PHP?

A widely-used server-side scripting language designed for web development that powers over 75% of websites including WordPress.

PHP (PHP: Hypertext Preprocessor) runs on the server, generating dynamic HTML pages. It integrates seamlessly with databases (MySQL, PostgreSQL), web servers (Apache, Nginx via PHP-FPM), and supports object-oriented and procedural programming.

Modern PHP (8.x) includes type declarations, named arguments, fibers, enums, and match expressions. Popular frameworks include Laravel, Symfony, and WordPress. PHP excels at web applications, CMSs, and e-commerce platforms.

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PHP Fundamentals

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Related Terms

Cross-Origin Resource Sharing (CORS)

An HTTP mechanism that allows web pages to request resources from a different domain than the one serving the page.

An XML file that lists all important URLs on a website, helping search engines discover and crawl content efficiently.

REST (Representational State Transfer)

An architectural style for designing networked applications using standard HTTP methods and stateless communication.

A set of browser-native APIs for creating reusable, encapsulated custom HTML elements with their own styling and behavior.

Brotli Compression

A modern compression algorithm developed by Google that achieves better compression ratios than Gzip for web content delivery.

Content Negotiation

An HTTP mechanism where client and server agree on the best representation of a resource based on format, language, or encoding preferences.

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