1. Introduction to PHP

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1. Introduction to PHP

March 29, 2026 in Php

✅ 1. What is PHP?

PHP stands for Hypertext Preprocessor.

  • It is a server-side scripting language
  • Used to create dynamic websites
  • Runs on the server, not in the browser

👉 Example:

<?php
echo "Hello World";
?>

👉 Output in browser:

Hello World

📌 Key Uses:

  • Login systems
  • Contact forms
  • E-commerce websites
  • CMS (WordPress, Joomla)

✅ 2. History & Versions

  • Created by Rasmus Lerdorf (1994)
  • Initially called Personal Home Page
  • Later evolved into a full programming language

📌 Important Versions:

  • PHP 5 → OOP introduced
  • PHP 7 → Faster performance 🚀
  • PHP 8 → Latest features (JIT, better error handling)

👉 Current modern version: PHP 8+

✅ 3. How PHP Works (Client vs Server)

📌 Flow:

  1. User opens website in browser (Client)
  2. Request goes to server
  3. Server runs PHP code
  4. Server sends HTML output
  5. Browser displays result

👉 Diagram (simple):

Browser → Server (PHP runs) → HTML → Browser

📌 Important:

  • Browser never sees PHP code
  • It only sees the output (HTML)

✅ 4. Installing XAMPP / WAMP / LAMP

To run PHP locally, you need a local server.

🔹 Options:

  • XAMPP (Windows, Linux, Mac) ⭐ Recommended
  • WAMP (Windows)
  • LAMP (Linux)

🔹 XAMPP Installation Steps:

  1. Download from: https://www.apachefriends.org
  2. Install software
  3. Open XAMPP Control Panel
  4. Start:
    • Apache ✅
    • MySQL ✅

📁 Folder:

htdocs/

👉 Place your PHP files here

✅ 5. Running First PHP Script

Step 1: Create file

hello.php

Step 2: Write code

<?php
echo "My First PHP Program!";
?>

Step 3: Save in:

htdocs/hello.php

Step 4: Run in browser:

http://localhost/hello.php

👉 Output:

My First PHP Program!

✅ 6. PHP Syntax Basics

🔹 PHP Tags

<?php
// PHP code here
?>

🔹 Echo (Print Output)

echo "Hello";
print "World";

🔹 Variables

$name = "Aditya";
$age = 25;

📌 Rules:

  • Starts with $
  • Case-sensitive

🔹 Comments

// Single line
# Single line
/* Multi-line */

🔹 Data Types

$string = "Hello";
$int = 10;
$float = 10.5;
$bool = true;
$array = [1,2,3];

🔹 Simple Example

<?php
$name = "Aditya";
echo "Welcome " . $name;
?>

👉 Output:

Welcome Aditya

🎯 Summary

  • PHP is a server-side language
  • Used to build dynamic websites
  • Runs on Apache server (XAMPP)
  • Easy syntax for beginners
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aditya singh