PHP is a scripting language originally created for web development and now used as a general purpose programming language. Key developers include Rasmus Lerdorf, Zeev Suraski, and Andi Gutmans. PHP scripts can be embedded into HTML pages and is used to dynamically generate web page content. As a scripting language, PHP is interpreted and has many built-in functions for tasks like string handling, dates/times, files, and databases.