PHP Introduction

PHP Introduction : PHP(Hypertext Preprocessing) is a server side scripting language used to design and develop dynamic and interactive web pages.
It is Interpreter based – Scripts are processed line by line, every time it is run. There is no compiled output.

Why to choose PHP?

PHP started out as a small open source project that evolved as more and more people found out how useful it was. Rasmus Lerdorf unleashed the first version of PHP way back in 1994.Facebook, Twitter, Wordpress, Yahoo, Wikipedia, Flipkart using PHP.
Reason why to use PHP :
1. Want to develop a web application without the hassles of licensing?
2. Want to deploy it on multiple platforms like Linux, Windows?
3. Do not want to spend too much time on mastering new skill set?
4. Have a scalability plan to have your web application interact with multiple database (Ex: MySQL, Oracle, IBM DB2) in the future?
5. Want to implement OO design in your application?
6. Secure your application from malicious attacks?
7. You can do all these in a RAD(Rapid application development) approach by using PHP frameworks, which work on MVC design pattern.
82.1% of the web sites we know, use PHP server side scripting.

Client Side Scripting

1. Scripts executed at client(browsers)
2. Browsers take responsibility of interpreting the scripts
3. Performs client side event handling and validations. Examples: Java Script, Ajax

Server Side Scripting

1. Scripts run on server
2. Generally used to perform secure operations, data handling, database operations, sessions, access and authorization. Examples : Perl, PHP, ASP.

Features of PHP

Most attractive features of PHP:

1. PHP code can be easily embedded within HTML tags and script
2. PHP is compatible with almost all local servers
3. PHP is a secure language to develop the website
4. PHP source code and software are freely available on the web.
5. PHP script is executed much faster than those scripts which are written in other languages

Course Prerequisite

1. Should have knowledge of programming fundamentals
2. Understanding of HTML and able to design HTML pages

Course Objectives

1. Introduction to PHP, with a look at features of PHP and basic concepts like variables, data types and operators
2. Controlling the flow of application through conditional and iteration constructs
3. Built in and user defined functions
4. Discussion on function libraries and scope of variables
5. Designing web forms along with validations and regular expressions
6. File operations in PHP
7. Handling error and exception conditions

Learning Outcomes

At the end of this course, you will be able to design your own simple web application with,
1. Application's data stored in files
2. Robust application with all erroneous conditions well handled
3. Implement "find and replace string patterns"

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