This document provides an introduction to PHP and the LAMP stack. It discusses how PHP and LAMP became widely popular for shared web hosting due to their low costs. While PHP is among the most disliked languages, it powers many popular applications and frameworks like WordPress, which runs on over 31% of websites. The document demonstrates installing LAMP, basic PHP code, and WordPress.

1. PHP, LAMP* Stack &
WordPress
*LAMP = Linux, Apache, MySQL, PHP
Aug 28, 2018

2. Agenda
• Introduction to PHP & LAMP stack
• How PHP & LAMP took the world (at least, shared hosting) by storm
 Why PHP is widely used despite being among the “most disliked” languages!
• PHP applications & frameworks; Laravel
• WordPress (and why it powers 31% of the Internet / websites)
• Demo: installing LAMP, some simple PHP code, installing WordPress

3. PHP
• PHP: Hypertext Preprocessor
 Open source loves recursive acronyms! Other examples: GNU, cURL, RPM, WINE
 Used to be: Personal Home Page Tools (1994-1997)
• Developed by Rasmus Lerdorf in 1994
• PHP Versions
 Initally not meant to be a separate language: worked with CGI (Common Gateway
Interface) scripts / binaries to generate dynamic web pages
 PHP 3 & 4 (1997): re-write of initial PHP. Powered by new Zend Engine.
 PHP 5 (2004): support for OOP & classes, PDO (Data Objects), Windows support!
 Namespaces (backported from PHP 6 which was never released)
 PHP 7 (2014): mainly performance enhancements, reportedly up to 2x
 Multiple legacy features removed (PHP 4 constructor style, <? ?> delimiters)

4. Perl / Python
• P in LAMP stack could also refer to
Perl or Python
• Won’t be discussing those today
• Very different from PHP!
• Examples of directory iteration in
Perl (top) & Python (bottom)
• Today
 Perl used to be go-to script for DevOps
and sysadmins; now less popular
 Python has become Swiss army knife:
used in production systems, DevOps
scripts, automation, production systems
& even web frameworks

5. PHP Basics
• Early PHP (3 and 4) was similar to C
– actually used C function names
• PHP 5+ introduced OOP and
namespaces
• Embedded in HTML documents using
<?php and ?>. File saved as .php,
parsed server-side (web server with
PHP module) and sent as HTML.
 Similar to ASP.Net, JSP, etc
• Drop / copy your PHP files into a web
server, and they just run. No
compilation, build, etc.
 Deployment = test locally, commit to git,
SSH into server, “git pull”

6. Google Trends: PHP, Python, Perl

7. Most Disliked Languages
2017 Stackoverflow Survey
https://stackoverflow.blog/2017/10/31/disliked-programming-languages/

8. LAMP Stack
• LAMP = Linux, Apache, MySQL,
PHP (or Perl or Python)
 Linux = OS
 Apache = Web Server
 MySQL = Database
 PHP = Language
• WAMP = Windows, Apache,
MySQL, PHP
 MAMP = Mac OS, Apache, …
• MEAN = MongoDB, Express.js,
AngularJS, Node.js
• WISA (!) = Windows, IIS, SQL
Server, ASP.Net
Source: https://www.freelancinggig.com/blog/2017/08/04/lamp-stack-vs-wisa-stack-best-startup/

9. Shared Hosting & PHP’s Popularity
• Made popular by GoDaddy
• Bunch of contenders:
DreamHost, HostGator,
1and1, Bluehost, SiteGround
• Web presence at low prices;
multiple domains on 1 server
 $5-$10 a year for a domain
 $3-$10 a month for hosting =
$36 - $60 a year
• Small businesses flocked
towards them to set up a
.com web presence
• Guess what software they
were running on? LAMPSource: http://www.aiteducation.org/2016/07/shared-web-hosting-linux-or-windows/

10. PHP Applications: CMS, Commerce
Source: https://www.rishabhsoft.com/php-application-development

11. PHP Frameworks
• A few years ago, there were
several contenders –
CakePHP, Yii, Symfony,
CodeIgniter
• Today: Laravel leads the
pack
• All frameworks share
similar patterns
 MVC framework
 ORM (Object Relational
Mapping)
 Scaffolding (generate basic
application from models)Source: https://www.quora.com/Which-is-the-best-framework-for-PHP

12. WordPress: Most Popular CMS
• Most popular CMS (Content
Management System)
 Replaced Joomla & Drupal (also PHP)
• Initially started as blog system
• Now also popular e-commerce
platform (with WooCommerce)
 Replacing Magneto (also PHP)
• Open-source, built on PHP. Primarily
runs on LAMP stack
• Initially released in 2003 by Matt
Mullenweg when he was a student
 Now maintained by WordPress
Foundation (non-profit) and Automattic
(for-profit private company)
Source: https://thenextweb.com/dd/2018/03/05/30-of-the-web-now-runs-on-wordpress/

13. WordPress Screenshot