Advantages And Disadvantages Of PHP: Why Should You Use PHP?

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PHP is a server-side scripting language that has been existing for more than 25 years! PHP is used by 79.2% of the websites whose server-side programming language is known, including some major platforms like WordPress and Facebook. PHP is an acronym for Hypertext Preprocessor and is a widely used open-source scripting language executed on the server.

PHP language is used to develop dynamic and interactive websites. It is a very popular programming language as it was one of the first server-side languages that could be embedded into HTML. This means, without the need to attach external data files, using PHP application we could make our websites function and can be called the "language for websites". PHP was created by Rasmus Lerdorf in 1994 and the latest stable version of PHP is 8.0.11.

Features of PHP

PHP programming language is widely used in developing web-based applications in various domains. The technology allows functions such as DIV tables, login functions, and graphical displays which widens its use across all purposes. Here are some huge applications:

1. Content Management System
2. Web-based applications
3. General-purpose website development
4. E-commerce websites and applications
5. Data analytics and representation
6. Image processing
7. Graphical interface design

Also read: What is CSS and its advantages and disadvantages?

Advantages of PHP

Developers have a number of scripting languages to build applications and websites like ASP, CGI, Perl, and PHP. However, PHP is the popular one and is widely used for scripting. Here are some important points on why PHP is preferred. 

1. Simple & Easy to Grab

Developers find PHP code an easy language to learn and work with. Most programmers start their coding journey with C/C++ or Java and PHP is somewhat similar to them which makes it more familiar to the programmers. Since it is an old language, many people have worked with it so far, and hence, it's easy to find enough guidance for beginners. Despite its wide-ranging features, it stands as a simple and clear programming language.

2. The MVC Pattern

Model-View-Controller Architectural pattern of the PHP framework helps developers in organizing their codes. PHP framework also allows them to keep data manipulating logic separate from the bits handling the display which helps in easy modification of codes. 

3. Open-source and Free!

One of the most important advantages of PHP is that is free and open-source software. This becomes an important factor when it comes to programming and developing as a student. It can be downloaded and can run on any OS like UNIX, Linux, and Windows, etc. It also offers open access to a wide range of PHP frameworks, such as Laravel and Symfony.

4. Flexible Development

PHP offers customization to a great extent. It is highly flexible and provides an easy connection to a database with its built-in functionalities. It can be used with a large number of relational database management systems such as MySQL, dBase, IBM DB2, ODBC, PostgreSQL, Inter Base, Front Base, SQLite, etc and runs on all web browsers such as Apache, personal web server, Microsoft IIS, Netscape, iPlanet, etc.

5. Faster 

It also has a faster loading time over slow internet speed than most of the other programming languages. 

6. Powerful Library support

PHP, like many other programming languages, has a collection of prewritten codes that users can repeatedly use whenever required to optimize the program. Some of the popular PHP libraries are:

1. Symfony Console Component
2. Symfony Finder Component
3. Psr/log
4. Monolog
5. Guzzle
6. Assert

Apart from all this, PHP is an object-oriented unit testing framework. Therefore, a large number of web developers use PHP to perform the tests efficiently. 

Disadvantages of PHP

Here are some of the disadvantages of PHP:

1. Security issues

When it comes to security, HP is dramatically criticized. Part of it is a result of being an open-source software where ASCII files are easily accessible. Here are a few common security risks in PHP:

1. XSS
2. SQL Injection
3. Session hacking
4. 4. Source code revelation

2. Poor handling or errors

Error handling is the process of identifying errors in a program and optimizing it. However, It is a popular belief among developers that PHP has a poor quality of errors handling. It lacks good debugging tools that are essential to identify errors and debug, results in poor application maintenance. 

3. Poor performance

PHP does not support the smooth functioning of multiple features at a time. In fact, using more features from the PHP tools can result in poor performance. Therefore, it is also not suitable for a giant content-based web application.

4. Poor framework

The PHP frameworks aren’t equivalent in behavior to other scripting languages. Here are some reasons why PHP frameworks aren't appreciated much;

1. It executes the same code repeatedly irrespective of the requirement 
2. Requires too many interdependent classes
3. Gives complicated solutions
4. Duplicates the webserver functionality

5. Incompetent 

Compared to other languages, it offers poor overall performance. Therefore many developers have consistently criticized the language over time. Other languages support users with various reference documentation that makes them easier to handle for web applications. Examples such as implicit conversion lead to unexpected bugs, confusion between arrays and hash tables, etc.

Despite many disadvantages, PHP is a very popular programming language to date. With the wide usage of the programming language, it’s quite clear that the advantages of PHP are far more than its disadvantages. Hence, it still has a huge community of developers.

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