What is PHP?

PHP is an open source, server side, scripting language that is often used in web development to create dynamic web pages that have the ability to interact with a database.

While many programming languages can be used to build Web applications, PHP is one of the few languages specifically designed for the Web. To this end, it includes a lot of useful Web-related features out of the box, such as:

• Easy ways to read and handle Web forms and cookies
• Functions for creating and manipulating graphics
• The ability to talk to popular databases such as MySQL
• Functions for working with HTML. Elated

PHP conveniently allows the user to insert PHP code within HTML pages. This key feature helps PHP add interactivity to otherwise plain Web pages.