Reasons For The Widespread Popularity Of PHP

The popularity of PHP as one of the most efficient programming languages is backed by the seamless integration of the language with prevalent CMSes like Drupal and WordPress. It is even opted by modern app developers using frameworks like Laravel and Symfony. However, the rise of other programming languages has sidelined the importance of PHP. The question that often comes to mind is – is PHP still relevant for app developers?

The Primary Reasons for the widespread popularity of PHP

PHP, also known as Hypertext Preprocessor, is an excellent server-side language, powering almost 80% of all websites. In fact, it is the backbone for well-known platforms such as Facebook and WordPress. But, newcomers in the developer industry still question its importance. That is mainly due to the rise of other languages and their usage too. 

However, PHP is still considered one of the most proficient web development languages. Take a look at the reasons –

  • Open-source

PHP is an open-source language, which means that it is available for free. Developers do not have to invest anything to use this language. Moreover, installing it is easy, and PHP comes with access to different frameworks such as Symfony and Laravel. Using PHP definitely cuts down costs for web development companies. 

  • Easy learning curve

The popularity of PHP is mainly due to the fact that it is easy to learn and use. Even without prior expertise or extensive knowledge of the language, one can master it. The simple syntax coupled with an easy learning grade makes it possible for the newcomers to excel in the language.

  • Security

One of the most crucial aspects of web development is the security of the application or the website. Even though PHP doesn’t boast of extreme security measures, it still offers the same level of security as other programming languages do. In fact, the extensive community support ensures developers access to different tools and practices to combat cyberthreats. 

When is PHP used for programming?

There are various instances where PHP is the right choice for website or app development. Take a look at these circumstances –

  • When you want the app or site to be available to the public as soon as possible

Do you want the application to be released quickly in the market? In that case, using PHP as the programming language is an ideal option. That is because PHP is easy to use and delivers fast results. Developers can use this programming language to quickly develop apps or websites. Besides, the vast array of ready-made libraries and prevalent frameworks is an impressive advantage for PHP. 

  • When application stability is a priority

The active usage of PHP for more than two decades and constant upgrades makes it a stable programming language. The in-built memory feature of PHP aids in decreasing workload and loading time. That, in turn, lends stability to the application or website. 

  • When optimizing the app or website for SEO is crucial

In order to gain success in the online landscape, the website or app must be easy to find. In that case, SEO optimization is of utter importance. PHP contains clean HTML, which is highly favored by search engine crawlers. In fact, it is the sites that use PHP that has gained immense traffic on the web. 

Conclusion

The wide range of benefits that PHP offers make it one of the most efficient programming languages. No wonder web developers prefer this language. Constant improvements and excellent community support make it an ideal choice for professionals in the web technology sector. However, the programming language you choose for modern app development depends entirely on the needs of the project. PHP is ideally dominating the whole web technology. The constant modifications and improvements in the programming language make it even more demanding, competitive, and efficient and making it the right choice for building applications.

So what are you thinking? Consult GoodWorkLabs and solve all your queries with a consultation call with our team. GoodWorkLabs is based out of Bangalore and Kolkata, India, and San Francisco, USA. The company has an experienced set of team that will work on your application and will deliver the best solution to you.  Contact us now!

Is PHP Still The Right Choice For Modern App Products?

PHP is one of the most popular languages in the world, used by most websites thanks to the popularity of content management systems such as WordPress or Drupal. Recently though, JavaScript-based Node.js has seen popularity but PHP is often considered more innovative and suitable for cutting-edge projects. 

But is PHP still the right choice for modern app development? 

In fact, the moment web developers from any software development agency think of web development, they have this common name in their mind, – PHP.

While many of the newcomers in the industry might doubt its efficiency, others consider the language to be the basis of web development.

Let’s read more about it – 

PHP is used when you want a faster release of your product in the market 

It’s a good idea to release fast for many reasons, including the ability to save a lot of costs when the endeavour doesn’t work out. A quick start may also lead to finding new business models you previously have not even considered. If your business idea also calls for a web app, PHP is a perfect choice. When it comes to time-to-market, PHP excels because of how quickly you can develop with it. The credit goes to the two most popular PHP frameworks Symfony and Laravel and an incredible choice of ready-made dedicated libraries that comprise their ecosystems.

PHP is also the first choice when you want to make your site SEO optimized as a priority

Online stores and other eCommerce projects are the best examples of sites that need to rank well in order to perform well. If we want our web app to rank high for various keywords in popular search engines, we need to take that into consideration during development. Search engine robots favour clean HTML because it is much easier to crawl and read. And outputting such code is the very reason PHP was created in the first place. 

As a matter of fact, every time you arrive at a text-rich website that ranks high on Google, there is a very good chance it was written in PHP. 

PHP also ensures application stability

PHP is a very stable solution as it is being actively used and developed for well over two decades. Symfony and Laravel are also still being improved in response to the latest technological trends and expectations of developers. PHP also employs its inbuilt memory which reduces both the loading time and workload. And owing to this reason, the processing ability of this programming language becomes immensely high. It works as a two-way process benefiting both the app development companies and their clients.

PHP provides great support for REST API 

All the major PHP frameworks provide great support for REST API. The Symfony framework even offers a whole platform dedicated to the development of APIs, both REST and GraphQL. It’s called API Platform and it makes it possible to quickly create APIs only by adding the business logic. 

API Platform automates a lot of typical tasks, making the whole API development process amazingly efficient. We get a full documentation of our API in OpenAPI/Swagger format to boot. Since the documentation is created and updated automatically, API users don’t ever have to worry if it’s up-to-date. In addition, the API Platform enforces a very stable structure of responses.

Conclusion

PHP is ideally dominating the whole web technology. The constant modifications and improvements in the programming language make it even more demanding, competitive, and efficient and making it the right choice for building applications.

So what are you thinking? Consult GoodWorkLabs and solve all your queries with a consultation call with our team. GoodWorkLabs is based out of Bangalore and Kolkata, India, and San Francisco, USA. The company has an experienced set of team that will work on your application and will deliver the best solution to you.  Contact us now!

Is PHP Still Relevant In 2023?

For a digital business to succeed, one needs a strong web presence, meaning a functional, faster loading, and user-friendly website. And such a website comes with picking the correct programming language. In fact, the moment web developers from any software development agency think of web development, they have this common name in their mind, – PHP.

While many of the newcomers in the industry might doubt its efficiency, others consider the language to be the basis of web development.

But is it true?

Is PHP still relevant in 2022?

Let’s find out in detail!

The use of PHP

PHP, being the most popular programming language, was first introduced to serve as a web visitor counter. But with the passing years, the scripting language has been modified dynamically with new added features and updates. It has gradually become the basis of web and app development and a top favorite of e-commerce website developers.

With this scripting programming language, web and mobile app development companies in Bangalore write HTML codes, develop API and CRM systems, and generate XLS, XML, and CSV files. And the best part is that PHP is well-compatible with every web browser and platform. The most advanced PHP version has double-layer security, and optimal loading speed, and is best known for its low maintenance and high-quality performance.

Benefits of using PHP programming language

PHP comes with endless advantages, and due to this reason, most web and app development companies use this programming language to develop websites, apps, and web apps. Here is a list of the top-notch advantage:

 

Flexible Open source tool

Developing a website or app in PHP is totally free. Moreover, the programming language works amazingly with several databases such as PostgreSQL, and Apache. The foremost reason why the language is widely popular among the developers is that it’s easy to learn, compatible with multiple OS, including Linux, Unix, Solaris, etc., and very flexible to adapt to changes and alterations in an ongoing or a complete project.

 

Scalability

Do you know that PHP employs its inbuilt memory? It, in turn, reduces both the loading time and workload. And owing to this reason, the processing ability of this programming language becomes immensely high. It works as a two-way process benefiting both the app development companies and their clients. To put it simply, the companies can accomplish the project faster, whereas the clients can receive it without any delay.

 

Versatility

Websites that are developed with PHP programming language are SEO-friendly, which is a roundabout way that is beneficial for your business’s marketing purposes.

In fact, the scripting programming language is capable of developing any website and app in 2022. Be it simple WordPress sites, website landing pages, or web apps like Facebook, anything can be framed conveniently with PHP.

 

Security

Even if PHP is an open-source tool, many believe it to be not secure. However, any programming language is vulnerable to threats. The safety and security totally rely on the developers and the agile software development scrum he uses. And as mentioned earlier, the latest version of this scripting language is way more secure and encrypted.

 

PHP in 2023 relevance Conclusion 

Without a doubt, PHP is massively dominating the whole web technology. The constant modifications and improvements in the programming language make it even more demanding, competitive, and efficient. Most machine learning companies in Bangalore are continually upgrading the scripting language, its functionality, and performance, creating tools to support it, adding libraries, directories, and so on! So, unquestionably, PHP is still in the game in 2022, and probably there will be no such change in the coming years.

So what are you thinking? Consult GoodWorkLabs and solve all your queries with a consultation call with our team. GoodWorkLabs is based out of Bangalore and Kolkata, India, and San Francisco, USA. The company has an experienced set of team that will work on your application and will deliver the best solution to you.  Contact us now!

Things we love and hate about PHP

PHP is the largest used programming language in the web development community. It is used in more than 80% of all the websites that are “live” today. Its CMSs and Frameworks like Joomla, Drupal, Cake, Magento, Codeigniter and WordPress are being deployed by some of the most successful and hi-tech web platforms. In fact, it has been the language that brings Facebook to all desktops and smart devices!

However, it also has its fair share of haters. Many developers have commented that PHP stands good for as long as you are limited to website and web applications. Sometimes, the codes can become very dirty and a burden to maintain. However, all of it depends on how you are coding.

Things we love and hate about PHP

Here are some good and bad things that are true to the PHP programming language:

The GOOD

Easy to learn: PHP is arguably among the most accessible and easier programming language available. All due thanks to the excellent documentation and the updated online resources, it is very easy to understand. This also makes PHP one of the most popular web programming languages ever. According to Josh Lockhart, New Media Campaigns, “PHP has a small learning curve, fast development iteration and facilitates higher ease of development”.

PHP continues to evolve itself: Created back in 1994 when we had no concept of closure and namespaces, PHP has continued to evolve to become the best updated language for modern web development. PHP followers would say that people who want to move away from the language have most likely failed to understand its full capabilities. One will regard this statement when checking enhancements like Hack and HHVM Virtual Machine.

Easy to work upon: Spare the developers – their job is writing codes. But what about users who look up to the PHP platforms for their business? Well, PHPs CMSs solves all major problems of website maintenance and upgrades. CMSs like WordPress, Joomla and Drupal have made it easy even for a non-developer to create and maintain a high-functional website. Further, a huge CMS community comes to help with its plugins, fixes, ad-ons and other answers.

It gives you the job: For a developer knowledgeable in PHP, getting the job becomes quite easy. PHP has a huge demand in the market and as already pointed, 80% of websites are looking to work with PHP. So, if you are expert in PHP, you get the job and the money that comes with it!

The BAD

Haters will be haters! However, there has been massive “thumbs down” on the PHP language, its framework and even the ecosystem. Sometimes, the language can bring surprises and is criticized for being inconsistent. The biggest complaint against PHP is it being “opaque, saddled with weak and complex typing and with negligible traces of stacks”.

For modern developers, the disadvantages with PHP lie in:

ü  A lot of “legacy baggage” like magic quotes, globals, etc

ü  Less focused compared to other languages

ü  Inconsistent language, especially its argument ordering and function names

However, we would say that if one knew what PHP caters with, these inconsistencies can be played through and a greater setup can be focused on.

Why Is PHP Considered A Loosely Typed Language? Top 3 Reasons For PHP’s Popularity

A Loosely typed language is a language that can create variables of different types easily. It refers to those programming scripts that do not require defining a variable type. To put it simply, while declaring a variable in these programming scripts, there is no need of defining or classifying the data type stored in them. While working with these programming scripts, you need to use a sign for each variable type(like string, integer, float, etc.) to declare them. You just need to assign a string value to the variable, to define that our variable is an integer. This is the reason why PHP is a loosely typed language. 

 

What is PHP Script?

As PHP does not require defining the variable type. As a result, you are not restricted to a limited type of data. Quite inevitably, it proves to be highly beneficial for programmers, as they enjoy optimum flexibility.

Why is PHP considered a loosely typed language

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The PHP script is very much popular among programmers and developers to develop various kinds of applications. As a loosely typed language, this particular script offers golden opportunities to programmers for designing great software programs. It is the most widely used language for developing web applications. There are many factors that attract developers and users to use PHP in their applications. Here in this article, we have jotted down the reasons that make PHP so popular among all – 

1. Optimum Flexibility

While creating dynamic applications, it is the flexibility of a loosely typed programming script that renders the most useful assistance. Because of their nature, dynamic applications are quite tough to work with. Often, these applications have to determine actions based on unknown data. Using the PHP programming script proves to be the best shots, in this context. It does not enforce data types on variables, and hence offers complete flexibility in complex programming.

2. Complete Programming Liberty

In cases of strongly typed languages, the programming rules are already pre-set and pre-determined. Therefore, the programmer cannot do any changes to it as per preference. In this context, however, situations are completely different with PHP. By allowing programmers to set their own programming rules, this particular programming script offers them freedom of operation.

3. Simplicity & Cost

The PHP language is one of the most simple programming languages. Like other languages, it is bound to have its bits and bytes, but still, it is compatible to run on any system productively. Writing a PHP script is pretty much straightforward and simple as opposed to another language. It also allows programmers to write customized scripts. The cost factor also makes PHP popular! As PHP is an open-source framework, that means it is completely free to use and is fully supported by documentation.

Summing Up

PHP programming script has gained traction with ingenious programmers and has become their current favorite, but as any other script PHP also comes with its share of drawbacks. While working with PHP, programmers need to have proper knowledge, otherwise, they might create vulnerable programming codes. As a loosely typed language, PHP creates some major possibilities of errors. Say, for instance, your code needs integer input, and your variable is in a string. As the most undesired output, the entire function will break. However, it is possible to overcome this issue by creating a properly structured and organized programming code.

So now you know why PHP is a loosely typed language and why it is so popular. PHP has various advantages  and it is widely used for web application development. Want to know more details about PHP? 

Stay tuned to this space! 

Or are you looking forward to having your dedicated web application built by using PHP? Contact GoodWorkLabs, one of the best web application development companies in Bangalore. Reach out to us and our team will discuss further about your requirements. Email us at – [email protected] or call at +91- 9863077000

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Top 5 PHP Programming Habits

In its early days, PHP programming was largely limited to being highly procedural. There were certain building blocks to every applications and these ‘procedures’ offered a degree of reusability by being called by other applications. However, a programmer can still introduce the OO characteristics without the constructs of object oriented language, into the codes. While the process if a tad bit difficult, the ability to be able to build relationships between interfaces and classes makes it easier to come up with codes that are governed by good OO practices.

Here are top 5 PHP coding habits that every programmer is expected to follow:

1.     Being a good neighbor

Classes should be able to handle errors self-sufficiently. Consequently, you should package them in a format that is easily understood by the caller. Further, it is better to avoid any returning object in a state of null or invalidity. This can simply be taken care of by throwing specific exceptions and verifying arguments to prove the invalidity of supplied arguments. This habit can save you from wasting a lot of time.

2.     Avoiding the Medusa!

Beginners in PHP are always confused about the importance of interfaces. However, experts and seasoned professionals suggest that not using interfaces would be like looking into the eyes of the Medusa. In mythology, any person who would look into the eyes of Medusa, a Greek Goddess with snakes for hair would turn into stone! Similarly, with interfaces, using them directly limits your options and your classes are set in stone.

Top 5 PHP Programming Habits

3.     Embracing the weakest links

It’s a good thing when you couple your modules loosely as they allow encapsulating change. The first and third habit mentioned above will also help your work towards modules that are coupled loosely. However, to loosely couple your classes, you should develop the final characteristics by lowering dependencies of classes – make this a habit. When trying to build OO designs, it is better to think of concepts like “Separation of Concerns”, wherein programmers try separating objects from classes, thus reducing the coupling.

4.     Being modest

Try not to expose yourself with your functions and class implementations. Hiding information is accepted as a foundational habit and it will get more difficult to build other good habits if you are already into hiding your implementations. Also referred to as encapsulation, exposing public fields makes you run out of options when things change in your implementations. It is better to use OO concepts to isolate the changes and stop them from spreading early on.

5.     Sticking to the family

The greatest disaster in OO programming is the copy-paste operations. Used without an upfront OO design, they can create havoc. Whenever, you are being tempted to use the same lines of codes from one class in another, it is a good habit to stop and consider how the class hierarchy can be leveraged to identical functionality. In most cases, copying codes is totally unnecessary when trying to come up with a good design.

Which programing practices form a part of your internal team checklist? Do leave in your comments and let us know.

Top 5 PHP frameworks

Top 5 PHP frameworks

Top 5 PHP frameworks

PHP has been one of the most celebrated web developing platforms across the globe. According to a survey by W3Techs, about 82% of the web servers use PHP at their backend to deliver a highly efficient and interactive experience to end users. The advantages of PHP lie in HTML on the front end supported by database integration capabilities. It is easy to learn and delivers super fast results while protecting the integrity of the design from all kinds of errors including XSS attacks, SQL injections and lot more. The popularity of PHP has led to several new frameworks being developed. Here are the top 5 PHP frameworks that every developer should use in 2015:

1.       CakePHP 3.0

A contemporary web development framework, CakePHP 3.0 is loaded with several unique features that include improved session management, enhanced helpers and components, ORM improvements, improved convention consistency and much more. The framework has also been integrated with an increased modularity that allows a vast standalone library ably supported by reduced coupling. Further, for a web developer, tools like PSR-0, PSR-1 and other composers are ammunition to achieve interoperability and efficiency.

2.       Phalcon

Phalcon is arguably the fastest among all existing PHP frameworks. To be implemented as an extension of C, Phalcon operates by low consumption of resources. The top features of this framework include security, translations, universal auto loader, assets management and several others. Web developers can use the Phalcon PHP framework to develop fully fledged MVC applications across single modules, multi modules and other micro applications.

3.       Laravel

Another recent and exciting addition to the top PHP frameworks is Laravel. This framework is equipped with several dozens of unique features including light weight tempting engine, native PHP and RESTful routing among others. Laravel has been developed using a variety of Symfony components and would be a strong foundation of well tested and reliable coding. Some other features that are worth mentioning about Laravel include the unique ORM, the simple authentication, a painless routing and a powerful and vast queue library.

4.       Symfony 2

Now upgraded to the 2.0 version, Symfony is a popular PHP framework that is used by developers worldwide to create amazing websites and web applications. Symfony 2.0 has been build using top components like Ez Publish, phpBB and Drupal. The framework is built and supported by more than 300,000 on-board developers and this has resulted in massive downloads crossing the mark of 1,000,000. Symfony further has more than a thousand contributors and an equally vast community of fans. It is expected that Symfony will soon grow to become the largest PHP framework ever used.

5.       Codeigniter

Codeigniter helps keep it simple but that’s where the efficiency lies. Any developer looking for a simple, easy to use and elegant PHP toolkit, Codeigniter is a definite solution. The framework has been behind some of the most eye-catching web applications. Some unique features of Codeigniter include a zero use of template language, zero restrictive rules of coding, standard hosting compatibility, simple monolithic libraries and close to zero configurations.

Using these 5 PHP frameworks, you as a developer can easily build a website or web application with awesome features within a very short duration. It is indeed difficult to choose the best framework because it all depends on your application requirements.

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