Prerequisites
Power Tools · 102 words · 1 min read
PHP: The Accidental Web Language
Rasmus Lerdorf's 'Personal Home Page' tools became the server-side language that powered early web applications.
From Personal Tools to Global Framework
In 1994, Rasmus Lerdorf created a set of C binaries to track visits to his online resume. He called them “Personal Home Page Tools.” By 1997, PHP had evolved into a full scripting language embedded directly in HTML — write your markup, sprinkle in some <?php ?> tags, and you had a dynamic web page.
<h1>Welcome, <?php echo htmlspecialchars($user->name); ?>!</h1>
<p>You have <?php echo count($notifications); ?> new notifications.</p>Why PHP Won
PHP’s deployment model was unbeatable: upload a .php file to any shared hosting account, and it just worked. No compilation, no app server, no configuration. This accessibility powered the first generation of dynamic websites — including a little project called WordPress.