Why PHP in the web applications?	1.5/5.0 (2 votes total) Rate: Select 1 - Terrible 2 - Poor 3 - Average 4 - Good 5 - Outstanding
Comdev June 20, 2006

A website is designed to provide information to the general public. Thus, it becomes necessary to incorporate various functionalities within the web application to help captivate the audience and encourage greater click through. In order to fulfill these fundamental criteria, PHP has been widely used to build ready-made modules to cater for most corporate websites, web portals and simple e-shops.

Most scripting languages that are commonly used are ASP, CGI, PHP, COLDFUSION, JSP, etc. The latest technology, AJAX comprises of JavaScript and XML that enables the drag and drop effect on the website. You can use PHP with a web server computer that runs Windows, Mac OS, Linux, Solaris, and many other versions of UNIX. The Linux platform has the most web server market share and most of its users choose PHP scripting language for their web applications.

Because of the increasing popularity of PHP and the growing demand of web application, the use of PHP modules are also mushrooming because it shortens the development process and eliminate writing PHP codes from scratch.

PHP modules play an important role in web publication. Each module is a collection of programming codes which are built to add functionalities, classes, libraries and user interface which comprise of common buttons, grids, forms, menus, etc. These are essential when serving business requirements. For instance, a Photo Gallery module allows you to upload and download photos, etc. On the other hand, you can run your online business using the ecommerce module which includes shopping cart, online catalogs and many more.

Despite the obvious advantage of modules to businesses, an entrepreneur must take into consideration the needs of the business. Each module is unique and caters to individual business attributes. Most of the modules available in the market are managed by respective administrator and because of the PHP simple and easy nature; it gives more flexibility to manipulate the information in the administration area and allow for code reusability. These include self-customization and modules creation according to customer requirements which can then be integrated onto a new or existing website system.

MySQL characterized as a fast, robust, reliable open source database which is part and parcel of PHP scripts. Thus, PHP is naturally compatible with the MySQL.