According to a study by W3Techs, 79% of all websites across the web use PHP as a server-side programming language. This means millions of websites are built on PHP. Considering its functionalities, simplicity, features, availability, dynamics, and scope, PHP is the best option for enterprises for web application development. Let’s check out why.
A web application is an online application that can be executed on any device, on any browser. It is like a computer program that runs on a remote server and performs a specific function by using a web browser. Some examples of web applications include office suites, Content Management System (CMS), project management systems, video streaming websites, messaging tools, and online photo editing tools just to name a few.
A web app is different from other applications as you don’t require to install it. A PHP development company can build web applications using a server-side programming language like PHP and client-side scripting languages like HTML and JavaScript. The server-side script stores and retrieves information while client-side scripts present that information in a simple way to the users. Features that a modern web app must have:
A typical enterprise application, let’s say CMS for an eCommerce store, would require to have high availability, data privacy, high security, data management, content modification option, and capabilities to integrate third-party tools.
So why use PHP for web application development? There are a number of good reasons for that. But let’s first understand what features PHP brings to the table.
Initially called Personal Home Page Tools, but now it stands for Hypertext Preprocessor. PHP is an open source, HTML-embedded scripting language used to write server-side programs. It combines the power of Common Gateway Interface (CGI) scripting and HTML document to help developers create dynamic web pages, websites, and web apps. You may be surprised to know that WordPress, Magento, Joomla, and Drupal – all use PHP server. PHP application development also powers big platforms like Facebook, Yahoo, Flickr, and Vimeo.
PHP web applications can be run on a number of operating systems such as IBM, Linux, Windows, MasOS, and probably everything. Developers get the freedom to choose the operating system as well as web server while developing an application. It also supports web servers like Apache, Internet Information Services (IIS), Sun Java System, and Jigsaw Server. Whether your web app developers choose object-oriented programming or go for procedural programming, it does not matter because PHP supports these two programming styles as well.
PHP has an extensive library for data fetching, parsing, database drivers, and regular expressions. PHP scripts or codes can be executed quickly. It supports tools like APC, Memcached, and Redis that can be used to cache PHP codes and store them in the server. This enables faster loading on the web. PHP’s clustering mechanism is known to offer fault tolerance which means failure in one part would not affect the rest part of the chain.
The latest version of PHP – PHP 7 – offers development flexibility as it is designed to support Facebook’s HipHop Virtual Machine (HHVM). HHVM’s Just-In-Time (JIT) compiler translates codes into machine language with low latency, thereby improving code execution on the hosting server.
A framework offers a basic structure for the development of a web application. They speed up the development process and provides responsiveness to applications. Here is a list of PHP frameworks that your business can consider for your next project.
Laravel
Features: Speed, security, expressive, customization. Suitable for complex web apps
CodeIgniter
Features: MVC architecture, security tools, simple documentation, faster, and high-performance. Suitable for scalable apps.
Yii
Features: Easy installation, robust security tools, faster, extensible and high-performance. Suitable for eCommerce apps, CMS and forums.
CakePHP
Features: Easy installation, robust security, support tools, CSRF and XSS protection and high-performance. Suitable for commercial apps.
Symfony
Features: Easy installation, engine independence, integration, flexible, high security, and stable. Suitable for large enterprise apps.
Zend
Features: MVC components, cloud API, data encryption, good documentation, session management, flexible, high security, and stable. Suitable for complex enterprise apps, banking and IT apps.
Phalcon
Features: Asset management, high execution speed, top security, autoloader, and caching. Suitable for configurable web apps.
[Learn about these PHP Frameworks in detail here.]
ASP.Net framework is often compared with PHP in the web development world as both of them have similar features and functionalities required in a web app. To help decided which is the best, we have drawn a comparison between Dot Net and PHP in this blog.
At Source Soft Solutions, we bring 150+ experts with 11+ years of web application development expertise. Being the most acclaimed PHP development company, we specialize in developing custom, feature-rich web applications using the frameworks mentioned above. From R&D to testing, we can help you at every step of the way. Here is an outline of our PHP web application development lifecycle:
In Closing
PHP-based web applications can be easily developed in a limited time and budget. Its modern libraries and frameworks, high level of security, and cross-compatibility are great for developing interactive web applications. Hire experienced developers from a reliable PHP development company, like Source Soft to create a web application as per your specific needs.
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