It is an Open Source Language means you can download, use and share without any cost.First time PHP found in 1994 by Rasmus Lerdorf. It is anronym for “PHP Hypertext Preprocessor”. It is a Server Side Scripting Language, which is run on server and give output to browser in pain HTML form. It can work individually or with HTML.
Why Choose PHP
It can runs on various platforms like Linux, Mac OS X, Windows, Unix , etc.
It support wide range of different-different databases MySQL, Microsoft SQL Server, Oracle, Informix, etc.
It is open source and secure scripting language with is reference resource at www.php.net
It is compatible almost all servers which is used today (Like: IIS, Apache, etc.)
It is easy to learn but provide more security due to its encryption technique.
It support large number of protocols like IMAP, POP, etc.
What PHP can DO
It use for create dynamic page contents
It can work with file system due to which we can create, modify or delete files and folders
It can handle cookies so we can create or read cookies.
It can use to control user access on pages/function.
It can encrypt and decrypt data which provide extra security to our data.
What You know before start It
Before start code with PHP you need to know HTML (Hyper Text Markup Language), CSS (Cascading Style Sheet ) and JQuery (Java Query). HTML is most important because we need HTML for output. CSS and JQuery use for styling and animation.
What you need
First you need a Web Server (Like Apache, IIS).
MYSQL or any other data base. Our first preference is MYSQL
For local you can use XAMPP . For download XAMPP Click Here