What are the Benefits of using PHP for Website Development?

What are the Benefits of using PHP for Website Development?

In this age of information technology, every business is vying for digital transformation. So to aid

these businesses in meeting their digital requirements. Tech giants are launching new

advanced programming languages and technologies. Even the old ones are launching newly

updated versions of their technology.

One question rises amidst all this chaos and that is which programming language is best for

developing websites? Before we get to that, it is important to notice the fact that almost 77.4%

of all websites on the internet are built using robust and reliable PHP development tools and

frameworks.

And after stating that fact, allow me to build my case on why PHP for website development is

the best way to go. A counter-argument can be made for new languages like Python that are

more fit to keep up with modern requirements. And fingers can be pointed at the limitations of

this traditional programming language.

But no programming language is a perfect one size fits all kind of solution. It's just how much

they can help you get desired results that count the most. Therefore, in this article, we will go

through the benefits of using PHP for web development to understand how you can leverage

this programming language to get maximum results.

Top 10 Benefits of PHP for website development

1. Free and Open Source

The cost of the product is the first thing people look at when they go shopping. But you can get

PHP free of cost. And it's open-source too, which makes it easily accessible. Being free and

open-source, the PHP programming language can help many developers get started with their

projects quickly.

Additionally, if need be, you can easily access PHP frameworks like Symphony and Laravel for

web development as they are free and can be installed quickly.

2. Easy to learn and use

It is not just that you can access this programming language easily. There are o complications in

using it too. It's relatively very simple in comparison to other programming languages.

Even if you don't have any prior knowledge or experience regarding PHP or web development

for that matter, then also you can build a web page using PHP in a short time. The syntax of

PHP is simple and the command functions are very easy to learn, making the entry barrier far

lower in comparison to other programming languages.

3. Fast and Secure

PHP works fast, especially in the latest versions, thanks to its memory. Although, in the past,

there were a few concerns regarding the security of the PHP programming language, it is pretty

safe to use nowadays. Still, it is important to mention that PHP is neither more nor less secure

in comparison to other programming languages.

But what's changed is, now PHP has the support of a strong community and a variety of tools,

frameworks, and best practices to fix its vulnerabilities and protect its applications against cyber

attacks.

4. Tried and Tested

PHP was initially launched more than two decades ago. So, people think now it would have

become an outdated programming language. But they don't know this works to its benefit as

well.

Being around for around a quarter century means that the PHP code would have been tested

under every possible type of real-life environment. And after weathering all those storms PHP is

still relevant for web development today.

The bugs in the code are fixed over time. Additionally, many tools and frameworks are built to

support it, making PHP one of the most efficient and secure programming languages for web

development.

5. There’s a lot of legacy code

Yes, having a lot of legacy code can be considered a benefit when most of the websites on the

internet are written in PHP. Because it is easy to make an upgrade if you know the same

programming language. Otherwise, you have to rewrite the entire code.

This is the reason why you must learn PHP even if you already have some hands-on

experience with other programming languages. Being easy doesn't mean you don't have to put

your efforts into writing quality code. Remember that there are many PHP developers out there

but not all of them have the right skills needed to develop or upscale an efficient PHP web

application.

6. Community support

One of the major signs that a programming language is very good is its support community. The

bigger the community, the bigger the proof that it works very well. No developer would want to

be a fan of programming languages with poor-quality code right? And the fact that PHP has

been around for a long time now, there won't be any query or any problem regarding PHP

development that hasn't been solved yet.

Apart from developers helping you out with your project, you can also find various tutorials,

documentation, and other resources in the form of blogs and videos that can help you with your

project. And worry not, as same as our programming language here, the documentation is also

updated regularly over time.

7. CMS Customization

PHP can customize your content because it comes with CMS integrations and features.

Customizing content is indeed one of the most lucrative benefits that any development

technology can offer. This gives companies a chance to create personalized content for their

business and their clients to provide enhanced user experience.

CMS features also enable PHP to rework and coordinate the content of the PHP website. This

also gives developers a chance to use PHP to build an elegant website with dynamic

functionalities.

8. Amazing Performance

The average user retaining time for a website is about 3 to 5 seconds. If the loading speed of a

website is slower than that then there are high chances that the user will leave to never come

back. That is why developers have to keep looking for features and functionalities that not only

attract users’ attention but also keep them engaged with the website for a long time.

But you can easily boost the loading speed of your website using PHP as it is one of the fastest

programming languages. When you use the just-in-time engine to integrate the code of PHP

with the machine language, your site will start loading on the internet with optimal data speed.

Many web applications face trouble connecting with the database to fetch the answers to solve

users’ queries. But not PHP, it can not only connect quickly but can reach back to users with

what they requested. Such amazing speed and performance give developers an edge to

succeed with their web development projects.

9. Extensive library

Libraries of any programming language have pre-written and optimized code that helps you

enhance performance and run operations smoothly. So instead of writing code right from

scratch, you can just access the library and borrow the code to yield maximum results for your

tasks. You can also explore other resources such as CodeIgniter, Django, Symfony, and so on.

10. Flexibility

It can be claimed that PHP is the most flexible programming language you can work with. You

can make any necessary changes you have to make in any stage of development and can still

get desired results.

PHP is flexible enough so you don't have to worry about database connectivity during the web

development process. You can select any database you want from DB2, Oracle, SQLite,

Postgres, and MySQL sync your data as a backend support.

This flexibility is what made the widely used combination of PHP and MySQL for eCommerce

apps possible. This combination is used largely for eCommerce services such as customer

relationship management, content management systems, and more.

PHP is so adaptable that it not only allows you to combine itself to work with MySQL databases

but also allows you to work on any operating system you wish such as Mac OS, Unix, Linux,

Windows, and more.

Conclusion

The list of benefits we discussed here is proof that PHP is indeed one of the most efficient and

widely used programming languages. Using it for the web development project will be extremely

beneficial for the developers. Equipped with rich features and resources, developers can

leverage the PHP code to yield the best possible results.

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