PHP Developer's Dictionary- P4:PHP is an open source, server-side, HTML-embedded scripting language used to create dynamically generated Web pages. With an easy-to-use syntax and a large, extensible library of modules, PHP brings together the best of Perl, C++, and other languages. | PHP Developer s Dictionary independence isn t the only advantage PHP has over ASP and ColdFusion. PHP boasts a simple and elegant syntax object support and excellent documentation. PHP is also tailored to the Web developer. Other scripting languages require cumbersome coding and expert knowledge to perform tasks that can be done in PHP with just a few function calls. In fact PHP code can be inserted alongside HTML code with very little performance impact or extra coding. PHP is also very fast. Any ASP developer can tell you that IIS tends to slow down when parsing an ASP page. Given a moderately powered Web server PHP rarely if ever bogs down under heavy loads. As discussed earlier PHP 4 will further separate itself from its competitors with the capability to compile and optimize PHP source and cache the compiled source in memory. In short the advantages of PHP are Speed Function for function PHP is faster than ASP. Functionality PHP offers greater functionality for Web developers with the ability to imbed PHP code directly in the HTML source. Price At no cost PHP is available for download at hundreds of locations all over the Internet. Ease of use PHP has a familiar syntax for those who know popular programming languages. Cross-platform support Developers can use the same code on both NT and UNIX operating systems. Installation For the purposes of this book we will discuss the installation procedure and options at a high level. This discussion covers an overview of the process for the two main operating systems that PHP supports. This chapter is more specific about the installation of PHP with Apache on Linux but we also discuss the installation process on a Windows NT and IIS4 system. PHP Installation General Overview The installation of the PHP module on any Web server assumes that you have a working Web server. In this case we assume that Apache has been successfully installed on your UNIX machine or that you have IIS installed on your Windows NT Server and you
