Since the dawn of the internet there have been many programing languages that have been used to develop websites and applications. The requirement for faster and more interactive websites and applications has brought about many languages that have come and gone. PHP is one that has stayed. Today PHP is the most widely used programing language in the world. More than 40% of all web applications are written in PHP and are installed on more than 22 million domain servers.

A major reason for its popularity is the fact that PHP is free, easy to install and learn, saving thousands of dollars in licensing fees and training programs. PHP is also a server-side scripting language that enables websites to retrieve and store information faster, while providing developers with more flexibility than competing languages. Another huge advantage is the fact that PHP is easy to install, more secure and stable. PHP also allows developers to use the more common elements repeatedly in the form of libraries or includes, saving costs and time and reducing the risk of bugs. Since PHP can be used with free relational databases like MySQL, it further reduces the cost of implementing systems. Developers also prefer PHP for this reason, since developing their own applications does not require a huge monetary investment. Therefore ease of use, low cost and flexibility has contributed to PHP’s huge success in the web arena.