Availability

php free downloads as source code or binaries (installable files) are available at

php.net

Open Source Server-side scripting language

PHP

PHP, which stands for "PHP: Hypertext Preprocessor" is a widely-used Open Source general-purpose scripting language that is especially suited for Web development and can be embedded into HTML. Its syntax draws upon C, Java, and Perl, and is easy to learn. The main goal of the language is to allow web developers to write dynamically generated webpages quickly, but much more can be done with PHP.

If you've seen ASP, you'll be familiar with embedding code within an HTML page. Like ASP, PHP script is processed by the Web server. After the server plays with the PHP code, it returns plain old HTML back to the browser. This kind of interaction allows for some pretty complex operations. PHP can be run as an external CGI process, a stand-alone script interpreter, or an embedded Apache module.

In addition to being free, the PHP makes an excellent combination with MySQL. Both are cross-platform. It means which means you can develop in Windows and serve on a Unix platform. Also,

PHP also supports a massive number of databases, including Informix, Oracle, Sybase, Solid, and PostgreSQL - as well as the ubiquitous ODBC.

PHP supports a host of other features right at the technological edge of Internet development. These include authentication, XML, dynamic image creation, WDDX, shared memory support, and dynamic PDF document creation to name but a few. PHP is easy to extend, so you can write something your own.