Table of Contents
Every development team encounters the question: what language to choose for the project? In web development, there are a lot of languages and frameworks available. They have different spreads. However, PHP, the most popular back-end language, is frowned upon now by a big part of the developers’ community.
GBKSOFT, a leading software development company, won’t agree with this statement. PHP web development is still in demand, and the language itself works perfectly for different types of projects. Let’s look through the main advantages and features that make PHP still good.
PHP Usage Among The Internet in 2021
Despite common skepticism towards PHP, it’s used on 78% of websites on the Internet, according to w3techs.com.
PHP is used on such popular websites and web services, as:
- Facebook;
- Wikipedia;
- WordPress;
- Etsy;
- Wikipedia;
- Slack;
- Mailchimp;
- other.
It is worth noticing that WordPress, one of the biggest CMS, is built on PHP. So all the websites created with the help of WordPress, function on PHP, and contribute a lot to the PHP usage statistics.
Should Businesses Still Use PHP for Custom Software Development in 2022?
Yes, PHP is still a perfectly suitable option for custom software development. Businesses from any industry can benefit from PHP as the back-end language for their project. PHP is good not only for simple websites but for custom web applications like enterprise resource planning systems, customer relationship management software, point-of-sale applications, and so on. Combined with JavaScript and its frameworks, it is possible to build self-sufficient, fast, and productive software on PHP.
PHP has also proved its longevity and reliability. While some other languages may start to disappear from the market, PHP, despite any critics, remains and seems to stay for a long time with the world. So, there is no reason to worry about this aspect, especially considering that the language becomes only better and faster with every new version and update.
Benefits of PHP
So, what are the advantages of PHP that persuade businesses and developers to choose it?
25+ Years on The Market
PHP was introduced in 1995. Since then, the language was constantly developed and updated, and it is still supported: the latest version PHP 8.0 was released in November 2020, and two previous versions, PHP 7.3 and PHP 7.4 are still getting regular updates. Through time, a community has created a lot of frameworks, and they significantly simplify and speed up the development process. The most famous frameworks include Laravel, Zend, CodeIgniter, Symfony, CakePHP, Yii.
A large number of developers
As it was mentioned, PHP has been here for a long time. Hence, it managed to grow a big community of developers who have mastered it successfully. There are a lot of specialists who can provide you with PHP development, and the market is actually rich: you have a chance to choose among people with different levels of seniority, experience, and knowledge.
Cost-efficiency of the language
Truth be told, PHP is one of the most affordable languages in terms of prices. Its hourly rates are significantly lower than other back-end technologies like Node.js, Python, or C++. For example, the average rate for a Node.js developer is around $81-100 per hour. An average PHP developer will charge $61-80 for an hour of work. So, the difference is approximately $20. When you are considering a long-term development for a large project, you may need thousands of development hours. So, even the difference of $20 per hour may save you a significant budget.
Good performance
Modern PHP provides high speed and sufficient security for your websites. The language uses its own memory, and that’s the main reason for reduced loading time. Moreover, the latest PHP version (PHP 7, PHP 8) is designed to utilize memory efficiently and improve execution speed.
Superb technical characteristics that make the development easier
PHP is simple, universal, shows good performance, and is suitable for dozens of web development projects. Here are some other aspects that make development teams choose PHP as their preferred back-end technology:
- it has good caching options;
- PHP shows good results with API development;
- there are a lot of libraries of different purposes available;
- it may be used for simple implementation of aforementioned libraries or SDKs;
- it’s flexible.
Scalability
Scalability options are crucial for projects that are planning to expand. When business in the stage of growth, the software should reflect these changes accordingly. Applications built in PHP is perfect for this goal, as it can be easily expanded, especially thanks to its frameworks like CodeInginter, Zend, CakePHP, and others.
Great community
PHP is an open-source language, and it has united many fans around itself. A strong developers’ community always means that there are a lot of knowledge, expertise, and tips lying around. It also means that developers don’t need to waste time to invite a bicycle but reach to their colleagues or forums. Hence, less time is needed to solve some challenges or issues.
Developers gain more control over the process
A lot of specialists prefer PHP as it is easier and more flexible than other languages. While a lot of other back-end technologies have long complicated scripts, PHP requires only a few simple lines of code to work efficiently and reach the goal that you need. PHP is also highly compatible with HTML and allows adding HTML tags.
In Conclusion
PHP encounters a lot of critic and haters from the development community. However, it doesn’t stop it from remaining one of the most popular and widely spread programming languages in the world. Its community is strong and has a lot of followers, and a lot of development companies still choose it for custom software development or building corporate websites.
The language still stays supported and receives new updates, and it’s a good indicator that it will be relevant and in demand for a long time.
