PHP
PHP: Hypertext Preprocessor, an open source, server-side, HTML embedded scripting
language used to create dynamic Web pages. In an HTML document, PHP script (similar
syntax to that of Perl or C ) is enclosed within special PHP tags. Because PHP is
embedded within tags, the author can jump between HTML and PHP (similar to ASP and
Cold Fusion) instead of having to rely on heavy amounts of code to output HTML.
And, because PHP is executed on the server, the client cannot view the PHP code.
PHP can perform any task that any CGI program can do, but its strength lies in its
compatibility with many types of databases. Also, PHP can talk across networks using
IMAP, SNMP, NNTP, POP3, or HTTP. PHP was created sometime in 1994 by Rasmus Lerdorf.
During mid 1997, PHP development entered the hands of other contributors. Two of
them, Zeev Suraski and Andi Gutmans, rewrote the parser from scratch to create PHP
version 3 (PHP3).