What is PHP?

PHP stands for PHP: HyperText Preprocessor, it is a server-side scripting language, and as the name goes, it is to create dynamic and interactive Websites for your visitors. Maybe you currently make your Websites in HTML? HTML alone cannot create dynamic Web pages, HTML is clearly defined as a static language, as it is always static and mainly is used for structuring (or styling, in some cases) a document (or a Web page, if you like).

What do we mean by server-side scripting?

You may already know, but HTML is a client-side language, so the browser translates the HTML code into "bytecode" that the computer can understand, and so the computer translates bytecode into what we can clearly understand, text, for example. Server-side scripting is a little different, a little bit more added to the story. As with PHP, server-side scripting languages have an interpreter inside a machine, that translates the code (in our case, PHP code) to HTML code (that the browser can understand), and then the same process will take place with the browser translating the HTML code to bytecode, and so forth. With server-side scripting languages, you don't need anything adding to your browser or computer, as the interpreter inside the machine that hosts the particular Website does most of the work.

What's the fuss with server-side scripting languages, then?

The thing that makes server-side scripting a must nowadays is because it can generate dynamic Web pages, but what do we mean by dynamic Web pages? Well, imagine you wanted to start a forum, and you used HTML. Okay, you used a form to submit the data and it is sent to your e-mail address, and you have to edit the static Web page every time you want a new post added. That, to me, would be the most annoying job of creating a Website. However, with PHP (or any other server-side scripting language, for that matter), can be completely automated, and you'd not have to edit your file even once! The thing that PHP does, is sends the form data to a different page, saves it in "pre-defined" variables (things that store a value), and using something called a "while loop" that continually loops all the posts saved in the Web page - and that's it! PHP stores the posts in a MySQL database (something that holds data, if you like, like member accounts, etc) and uses that as long-term memory.

But if we're talking about server-side scripting languages, what makes PHP different from the rest? Well, simply put, PHP is probably the best thing that has come into the server-side scripting genre. If you have heard about other scripting languages like Perl or ASP/ASP.NET, you'll come to find that they are extremely hard to learn from. Put it this way, the majority of Web developers that use ASP.NET, for example, are those who have come from a different programming background, like have known VBScript, or other languages that's in relation to ASP.NET, the same with Perl. The difference between PHP and the rest, is PHP is incredibly easy to learn, especially for the newbies towards this industry, and PHP has took several steps to ensure an easy introduction to those newbies to the world of programming. Let's do an example, lets see which is the easiest to understand, out of PHP, VBScript and Perl, by doing a simple "Hello World" program, that outputs text to a Web page:

PHP:

echo "This is some text that'll be shown in a Web page...";

VBScript/ASP.NET:

Response.Write("This is some text that'll be shown in a Web page...");

Perl:

#!/usr/bin/perl

print "content-type: text/html nn";

print "This is some text that'll be shown in a Web page...";

Okay, now I am not going to say things like "well, obviously PHP is the easiest to understand" - as obviously, we all have different preferences, but what I can say is, that they all do the same thing. Which seems the most logical to you? In my opinion, the two most logical ones for me is PHP and VBScript/(ASP.NET).

Now it's up to you which one you want to go ahead with, experiment which one is best for you, after all, we all have dfferent tastes.

Good luck!

Below are a few resources to get started with PHP:

# - w3schools.com

# - php.net

# - mysql.com

Web development is accomplished by following a dedicated growth cycle, during which a web developing professional concedes number of stages. The process is initiated by understanding the needs of client and target audiences for the website. However, there is no final stage of web development, as it is a continuous process. The process may require steady modifications after it is introduced in the cyber space.

The expert web professionals fuel the web development. These professionals carry years of expertise in the form of knowledge and skill sets. Website development is an art and web developers are like artists, who produce unique web portals. These professionals must be equipped with a number of qualities to win acclaim in their work. These qualities are achieved by acquiring related skill sets.

A Webmaster must be proficient enough to understand the purpose statement given by client and prepare objective statement for the website to be developed. It is the combined effort of client and web developer, which shape up in the form of basic aim of a website. Apart from these, the client as well as web developer must decide the target audience.

The next aim of a website must be to analyze the most appropriate option for the domain of a particular website. The domain name is one of the most critical factors of website development. It is responsible for generating traffic for the web and improving its ranking in search pages. Also, you must be aware of various SEO techniques to aid the effectiveness of website developed by you.

It is in the hand of web developers to employ most efficient tools and techniques to end up with a website, which proves to be a feather in his cap. The professional must be expert in designing templates and graphics for the website and utilizing back end coding for betterment of the website. Apart from professional web developing skills, the website must be backed by cemented contents to increase the worth of website manifolds.

As the website is introduced on Internet, there is a need to constantly keep a watch on its improvement with time. One must not fail to remember that there is a galaxy of websites sharing the same platform as shared by your own website and you need to secure a unique place for your website. For this reason, it is said that website development is a unremitting process, which never comes to a halt.

There are many advantages to building a good website. A good website is like good real estate. A good website is measured by the quality of traffic it receives and the value of content it contains. Good websites get linked to naturally. This is powerful when it comes to search engine optimization.

So your goal when building a website is to build it properly from the ground up. The first element of building any website is research. What is your site going to be about and how are you going to provide good quality content.

Good quality content is king online. People jump online everyday seeking information in one way or another. This can be for entertainment purposes or for the purpose of research.

Good content is going to have good research behind it. While this may all sound a little complicated it really is not. Always remember to keep it simple and do not lose sight of the fact that this medium in essence is no different than others. You will still need to communicate with people and as result you will develop relationships that will benefit all parties concerned.

When you provide benefits and show results you will develop credibility resulting in a website that will make you money not just today but well into the future. As you know you will always know the difference between somebody who loves what they do and somebody who does not. So choose a topic of interest and research it extensively and help you visitors do what's best for them and the rest will be history

To learn more about how you can put this together select any of the following links.