PHP Is Not Dead And Here’s Why

Introduction

In the ever-evolving technological landscape, PHP turns out to be one of the most reliable workhorses, no kidding! However, I am sure you must have come across several rumors, gossip, and headlines stating that PHP has been doomed or it no longer seems to be in vogue. Well, to be honest, these are just interpretations, there are no facts. Some of you might believe that PHP is no more, whereas some of you might even believe the fact that there is still a lot more to hold on to when it comes to PHP. Well, time will tell what the future holds. For now, all I can say is don’t believe what people say about the PHP technology on the internet. PHP was and PHP is a great career choice. No wonder you will find more and more reputable and reliable PHP development companies, who are well-versed and knowledgeable with the technology inside out.

Usually, when you look around for developers to create an application, you will find programmers choosing the latest and the most advanced frameworks such as React and Angular. These technologies enable developers and designers all across the globe to develop single-page applications that tend to run across a wide range of platforms ranging from desktop to mobile. You know in one way or the other PHP still manages to stand and is considered a dinosaur that can never go extinct, especially not any time soon. For the naysayers of PHP, don’t be in a hurry to call a funeral home or if you have begun the preparations, wait a while and read the following post that says PHP is here to stay, and that too for a long haul.

And you know what the most hilarious part here is? People have been calling for the death of PHP for years now (you can find “Is PHP Dead?” posts as far back as 2011). And yet, PHP persists…

PHP Then and Now

There is no denying the fact that PHP used to be the most modern programming language available across the globe. However, today this is simply not the case. However, it doesn’t mean it’s dead, especially when PHP stats clearly state the technology to be alive and kicking.

According to W3 trends, PHP is used by more than 78.9% of all websites and it's a known server-side programming language. So in other words, 8 out of 10 websites you visit are created using PHP in one way or the other. To be honest, the numbers are declining so I would recommend taking these stats with a pinch of salt.

Also, think about this, do you believe that WordPress is one of the most popular content management systems available? And it uses PHP. A CMS that powers over 34% of websites over the internet uses PHP. Now do you think this is it, of course not! You will come across tons of big and small websites that are successfully built using PHP.

The PHP versions keep on updating now and then and with each new version, PHP seems to have become faster like never before. There has been a huge performance increase for PHP 7. X over PHP 5.6. When compared precisely, PHP 7.3 pushes 2-3x the number of requests per second in comparison to the 5.6 version. And what is PHP version 7. X brings to the table?

Combined comparison operator
Multi-catch exception handling
Keys usable in lists
Null coalesce operator
Nullable types
More negative string offsets
Number operators and malformed numbers
HTTP/2 server push
Iterable and void returns
Trailing commas
New type hinting
Anonymous classes

Source - https://kinsta.com/blog/is-php-dead/

The PHP version especially 7 and all above seems to have the most market share as of now. WordPress requires PHP 7.4 to be installed. However, if you are among those who vouch for PHP 4 and 5 just because your website is still up and running then I feel extremely sorry for you.

Further below I would like to mention some of the core reasons that make PHP so popular and recommended for every business vertical across the globe.

Why is PHP Technology still in Vogue?

#1 Free to use

One of the obvious reasons for considering PHP is that it is pretty much free to use. Yes, This one is licensed as an open-source software that is free to use and distributed seamlessly. It is possible for anyone to download, develop, and build a website and all this is possible without making any kind of payment. This enhances accessibility to the community. Moreover, some of the most popular PHP frameworks such as Laravel, and Symfony are free to use.

#2 Jack of all

Those who understand PHP inside out are very well-versed in the fact that PHP is one such technology that makes you a jack of all. It may quite interest you to know that PHP is widely known for its versatility. Though it was developed as a general-purpose server-side language, PHP can be used to develop any and every type of website and solve any problem.

Speaking of which, it would be quite interesting to know that PHP seems to have a pretty large community where you will find every professional from beginner to veteran. The community has developed thousands of PHP modules and plugins that provide specific features or functionality.

#3 Easy to learn and use

PHP is pretty easy to learn and use, especially for beginners. Yes, the syntax is quite similar to all other programming languages available. So even if you have some experience working with other languages, it’s simply great because you can get started with PHP at any point in time. In addition, PHP offers a wide collection of libraries, tools, and frameworks that surely work wonders for developers to develop applications quickly and efficiently.

#4 Versatility

Another distinguishing factor to take into account is that PHP works at its best when it comes to versatility. The PHP technology is highly recommendable for a wide range of web development projects from small websites to large-scale enterprises. As mentioned earlier, several well-established content management systems such as WordPress e-commerce websites like Magento, and web-based applications like Facebook, tend to consider using PHP.

#5 Security

The next amazing reason or feature that ensures PHP is the best bet is its great security. Yes, PHP comprises numerous built-in security features that make it way more secure against common yet critical vulnerabilities like SQL injection and cross-site scripting (XSS). As mentioned earlier, PHP seems to have an extremely large community of developers who keep on updating the technology constantly with endless security patches and updates.

#6 Tried and Tested

Another major benefit to take into consideration is that PHP was invented in 1994 which means the framework itself is quite veteran and tried and tested ample of times. The tech has been successfully put to the test in all kinds of real-life environments where in case if issues or bugs are found, they are fixed right away without much hassle and delay. No wonder the tech is more stable and trustable by developers. In addition, many frameworks and tools have been built over time, helping to make PHP web development more secure, efficient, and effective.

#7 High-end functionality

PHP seems to have evolved over the years to keep up with the ever-changing needs and expectations of web development. The latest version was released in November 2022 and some of its most attention-grabbing features include:

Enumus - To define a set of named constants that can be used as a type.
Fibers - An unusual way to create lightweight concurrent tasks that can pause and resume execution.
Read-only properties - A way to declare class properties that cannot be modified after initialization.
Intersection Types - A way to combine multiple types into one using the & operator.
Array Unpacking - A way to use the … operator to unpack arrays into function arguments or array literals.
Named Arguments - A way to pass arguments to functions by name instead of by position.
Attributes - A way to add metadata to classes, methods, properties, parameters, or functions using #[…] syntax.

No wonder all these features make PHP technology more and more expressive, powerful, readable, and maintainable.

Final Verdict

Some people don’t like PHP but that surely doesn’t mean it is no more.

You can never go wrong when working with PHP. Here are some highlight pointers to consider such as:

It is widely used and keeps on growing in terms of popularity
It has evolved like many other technologies and has grown better
PHP has a large, active, and pretty strong community of developers
Of course, there have been complaints about the tech over the past few years but it’s a work in progress.
By collaborating with modernized development technologies, and new programming paradigms, the future of PHP is pretty bright.

I hope the following post was pretty insightful for you. In case, you have any doubts or queries regarding the concept, feel free to mention them in the comment section below.