We all know that PHP is a highly popular programming language and is widely accepted by a large number of web developers to develop any kind of dynamic web application, websites and more. Due to its flexibility and ease of understanding, it’s one of the well-known languages used for web development. Furthermore, compared to other programming languages like Java, Cold Fusion and Ruby; PHP is highly preferred by 20 million high traffic websites. However, there are also some advantages and disadvantages of PHP programminglanguage, which is important for every web developer to understand.
So, without wait, let’s know what are the top advantages and disadvantages of using PHP programming language for the web developers.
Advantages and Disadvantages of PHP Programming Language
As we have already discussed what is PHP, so let us know about the advantages and disadvantages of PHP
Advantages of PHP:
It has both procedure programming language and OOP (object-oriented programming) language features. This means the PHP programming language can be easily learned by any programmers from different programming language backgrounds in a short period of time. As this is more similar to C & C++ language syntax.
Open-Source
One of the main advantages of PHP is open-source and free of cost, which helps developers to install it quickly and readily available for use. Hence, PHP is available for free to every user, and the community of PHP developers gives excellent technical support. Therefore, all its components are free to use and distribute.
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User-Friendly
PHP is one of the best user-friendly programming languages in the industry. It also gives more flexibility than C, C++, and ASP and overall helps in improving traffic to the website. As a web developer, if you are looking to develop complex, dynamic and user-friendly web applications, PHP is only the first choice to choose from another programming language. So, this feature is one of the main advantages of PHP language.
Easy to Learn
As I earlier said, PHP is easier to learn, even if you have no more skills in the programming language. It is one of the essential advantages of PHP. Besides, Compared with other programming languages, PHP does not require you to spend a lot of time studying a manual. A complete web page will develop just a single PHP file.
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Familiarity with Syntax
PHP has a compelling and easily understandable syntax like C and C++ programming language. So, it is very familiar, and programmers and other newbies are really comfortable coding with it. So, if you already have knowledge of C and Perl programming then learning and implementing PHP will be very really easy, as its syntax is very similar to these programming languages.
Supports All of the Leading Databases
The database is a crucial factor for each project. Hence, PHP supports all of the leading databases, including MySQL, ODBC, SQLite and more. This is one of the main advantages of using PHP for web development.
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Cross-Platform
PHP written applications can be run on various platforms and PHP is compatible with most operating systems, including UNIX, Linux, and Windows. This is the most important advantage of PHP, here the developers need not worry about the operating system the user is working on. As the PHP code runs properly and smoothly on all operating systems.
Speedy
PHP uses its own memory space, so the workload of the server and loading time will decrease automatically, which results in faster processing speed. As the processing speed is fast, the web applications like eCommerce, CRM, CMS, and Forums are also developed faster by it. It is the main advantage of using PHP language in web development.
Stable
PHP has been stable for more than 22 years. Over this era, PHP is supported by many developers, to enhance the usage of the application and reduce the bugs automatically. Therefore the bugs are fixed quickly by the team of developers. Based on this, the programming language is currently very stable.
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Powerful Library Support
Another advantage of using the PHP hypertext Preprocessor is the use of modules that are functional. The importance of these different functional modules is to help make your work become easier. Therefore, here you need not develop the modules from scratch as they have already been created. All that will be required is just to include the module and maybe add little modification. Some of the modules available in PHP include Graphics and PDF amongst others.
A Helpful PHP Community
PHP has a large community of developers who regularly updates tutorials, documentation, online help, and FAQs. It is one of the main advantages of PHP to learn from the communities. If you have any trouble when using PHP, it is the best place you can find all the information about the PHP language. Apart from this, you will get tips and tricks from PHP pros through several websites and forums. Additionally, PHP has a great community and resources to learn PHP online.
Disadvantages of PHP:
This comes from ample language features. Some libraries written by a programmer from a procedure programming language may be difficult for programmers with an OOP background to maintain. Therefore, everything has two aspects. PHP also has its own disadvantages. So, let’s have a brief outlook on the disadvantages of PHP.
Not secure
PHP is not secure because as it is open-sourced, all people can see the source code. Besides, if found any bugs in the source code, it can be easily used by people to explore the weakness of it. This is one of the main disadvantages of PHP language.
Difficult to use for large applications
PHP is not suitable and is difficult to use for large content-based web applications. This is because the programming language is not highly modular, therefore creating huge applications through PHP programming language will be difficult to maintain.
Weak type
PHP has a weak type, which may lead to incorrect data and unexpected bugs. As discussed above, PHP is not highly modular, it’ll be tough to create large applications out of the programming language. Despite this, it’s so an excellent programming language for web site scripting and developing small applications.
Poor Error Handling Method
The developers believe PHP has a bad error handling method compared to other programming languages. This is because PHP has a very less number of debugging tools that are required to detect errors and warnings compared to other various programming languages. This is one of the main disadvantages of PHP.
Not suitable to handle a large number of apps
The technology is helpless to support and maintain a bunch of apps. It is highly tough to support because it is not competent modular. It already imitates the features of Java language.
Affect Speed and performance of websites
Most of the PHP frameworks come with robust features and tools to accelerate the development of large and complex websites. Therefore, web developers should be aware before using a large number of PHP frameworks and tools as it can lead to the poor performance of the web applications.
Lack of option to modify core behavior
In addition to proving a basic structure for web application development, the PHP frameworks further provide custom web application development. But the developers still lack any option to make changes to the core behavior of these frameworks. Hence, PHP does not allow the change or modification in the core behavior of the web applications.
Conclusion:
Many researchers have concluded that the wide usage of the PHP programming language has many more advantages than compared to its disadvantages. So, considering the number of advantages and disadvantages of PHP, it can be inferred that PHP is one of the most popular programming languages for web development.
It is also currently being used by a large number of individuals for creating enormous types of applications for Mac, Linux, and Windows OS. It is primarily used as a server-side scripting language for websites.
So, if you’re a beginner planning to develop a dynamic application or websites using PHP programing language. It is advisable to take up proper training for learning PHP programming language to get a good head-start in your career. Interested aspirants can enroll in our PHP training course that will assist you to become a successful PHP developer to create famous websites like Facebook.com, Baidu.com, Wikipedia.org, and Twitter.com.
All the Best!
