PHP is a server-side language.
Every reaction that a user gives on a website is recorded through the front end and send over to the server.
And for the server to understand that reaction, it needs to have logic in a server-side language and that is done by the PHP.
Any request to the server or any manipulation in data or any custom logic that has to be run on a server is done by a server-side language.
PHP as a server-side language is preferred by beginners because the costing of a PHP hosting is the cheapest in the market and can be afforded by a beginner.
PHP is a server-side language that can interact with MySQL and can record the user data into a database.
Is PHP front or back end?
PHP is a backend technological stack that helps a frontend user to interact with the server.
PHP is a server-side language and without a server-side language a user won’t be able to register his or her data into the database over the server.
PHP can be a standalone code on the server, unlike the frontend technology stack.
front and technological stacks such as HTML, CSS or basic JavaScript cannot interact with the server or the database on the server’
The main purpose of PHP is to:
- stand alone on the server.
- Receive any request by the frontend user.
- Handle the request accordingly.
- Run functions over the server.
- Data handling over the database with the help of MySQL.
How do I start PHP?
If you are a complete beginner and you know nothing about servers or server-side coding and have budget constraints as well, then I would recommend you set up localhost.
Localhost is a server that runs locally on your computer and can be accessed locally by your computer only.
Well for that case you may install XAMPP which will automatically install PHP, PHPMyAdmin, and SQL database into your localhost.
For having a PHP learning course you can either follow my YouTube channel or any other YouTube channel of your choice.
You can even follow the paid courses on Udemy.
You can even follow websites for tutorials w3school.
Can I learn PHP by myself?
Yes of course that is absolutely possible.
I did it myself learned PHP on my own from scratch.
I took help from websites such as w3school and StackOverflow to learn on my own.
Though StackOverflow is an online forum for technology stack, so it is not basically for beginners and beginners would find it difficult to follow.
Beginners can move towards tutorial websites such as W3school or even follow my tutorials from Udemy or from my website Developer Papa Panda.
What should I know before learning PHP?
Before learning PHP or any server-side language you must first master your skills in front end technology.
For that, you might have to learn and master HTML CSS and JavaScript. Without these three technology stack, you might not be able to establish a front end for a user.
Without a front end, a user won’t be able to send you data to your server, in simple terms the user won’t be able to interact with your website until and unless there is frontend up on the server running for the user.
So, you must learn frontend technology to establish a frontend before learning PHP.
Though PHP has got no learning relationship with the frontend technology, still a server-side coding without a frontend would be a handicapped application.
Should I learn HTML CSS before PHP?
PHP is independent of HTML and CSS. Learning PHP has got nothing to do with learning HTML and CSS until and unless your PHP depends upon a frontend.
If you are willing to develop a backend for a mobile application(not made in web stack) in that case you won’t be requiring HTML and CSS, all you have to do is develop APIs in PHP for you mobile application and run them on your server.
But in case if you are developing a website in PHP, then in that case you may have to learn HTML and CSS first and would have to establish a frontend before working with the backend of the website.
Can I learn PHP without knowing HTML?
That is absolutely possible, as learning PHP has got nothing to do with learning HTML unless you are developing a frontend in PHP-HTML.
Unlike PHP, HTML is not a standalone server-side coding language.
HTML only works on the client-side and works only on a browser that is used by the user.
HTML cannot survive or run on its own, it runs only when the user interacts with the website.
Unlike PHP which is a standalone coding language and can run on the server on its own even without user interaction.
As you now know that HTML and PHP have got different purposes to serve, so now you can make out that not necessarily you need to learn HTML first in order to learn PHP.
PHP can be learned even before you decide to learn HTML.
Though it is always recommended to learn HTML first as it is the easiest technology stack and HTML is also considered to be at the bottom of stairs to web development.
Can I learn PHP without knowing Javascript?
JavaScript is only coding language in which a developer can put into logic for a website.
But again just like HTML and CSS, PHP has got nothing to do with frontend until and unless you want to make a dynamic frontend with PHP-HTML.
Learning PHP has got nothing to do with learning JavaScript, both has got their own learning curves and own learning paths.
Both the technological stacks are used for different purposes so they are not interrelated unless you want to make a custom project and relate them with a dynamic frontend in PHP, where you may have to use a combination of HTML-CSS-JavaScript-PHP altogether.
And the answer to the above question is yes a beginner can learn PHP without knowing javascript or vice versa.
What should I learn first PHP or MySQL?
PHP is a server-side language but to record any user data you would need a database on the server.
PHP cannot directly interact with the database, for interacting with a database on server PHP has to interact with MySQL and take the help of MySQL to manipulate any form of data into the database.
So, in that case, you have to first start off with PHP but after a point, you will have to learn to connect server data to the database and for that, you would have to learn PHP and Mysql simultaneously.
How long does it take to learn PHP and MySQL?
It would take you around 6-7 months to learn PHP along with Mysql simultaneously and establish a full-fledged backend application with a database.
To get a detailed idea about the timeline required to learn PHP, check out: How long does it take to learn PHP?
Is PHP good for a Career?
Well, a PHP developer in the United States earns around $60000 to $90000 per year on average.
Big companies such as Facebook still have their stack over PHP.
And to my knowledge, Facebook was Initially built over PHP.
PHP has got a huge craze among the new blooming startups because of the affordable cost.
PHP will never go out of the market because of its huge demand in the market.
If you are looking out for a good, in-demand, and reliable technological stack for server-side, PHP can really be reliable in that case for you.
Why is PHP considered dead?
Though PHP is considered to be a dead technology by many developers. But believe me, PHP has got a lot of potentials that many developers don’t recognize.
Developers do consider PHP to be a weak language in comparison to coding languages such as Python, Java, and Node JS which are also server-side languages.
But still, PHP will always be the first preference for freelancers, startup companies, small budget companies, and beginners.
The main reason for it being preferred by the freelancer’s community, startup companies, and the beginner’s community is because of its cheap development costing and cheap establishment cost.
Is PHP going to die?
If you still have this doubt in your mind that whether PHP is going to survive in this competitive market or not. Then let me tell you that PHP has been surviving throughout and this competition is not new for PHP.
To compete with PHP there has been Ruby on Rails, Django, Node JS, JSP, and many more technological stack in the market, but still, they combined together could not make PHP go out of the market because of PHP’s huge demand.
In the coming years, no technological stack can throw PHP out of the market because of the affordability, easy to set up, and easy to maintain.
How can I learn PHP for free?
I will soon open up a YouTube channel for free courses.
I am planning on making up some paid courses as well and you can join them if you want! It will be on Udemy and I will share the link.
You can even follow my website along with that you can even follow tutorial websites such as w3school from where I learned myself.
How can I practice PHP?
You can practice PHP in two ways
- Either you can buy a cheap hosting or you can opt for free hosting.
- You can set up a localhost on your computer and practice PHP over it.
As PHP is a server-side language, a server is important to run PHP. so either you have to buy a server or have to set up a server locally.
What can I build with PHP?
There is no limit of PHP, you can build anything related to the server over PHP.
You can build social media such as a clone of Facebook over PHP on a server.
For your information, most of the website on the internet is made out of WordPress which is made out of PHP.
You can build applications for your Android mobile or IOS phones and make them work with APIs and handle them over a server with PHP.