Introduction
Yes, PHP is relevant in 2024. Its popularity in web development is unlikely to decline anytime soon. Its statistics and usage speak volumes about its relevance. Over the years, PHP has gone through changes so that it can keep up with the modern-day needs of software development. With the release of the latest version of PHP 8.3 in the November of 2023, PHP raises the bar in web development. Like every programming language, PHP also has numerous frameworks. Laravel is considered the most modern and innovative framework among all PHP frameworks. By using the Laravel framework and PHP 8.3, PHP developers can create the most amazing web applications.
PHP’s market share currently stands at 33.59%, that is, it is used by around 7991,361 customers. PHP is also used to build 76.6% of websites. Countries like the United Kingdom, the United States, Russia, and Germany have more than millions of websites powered by PHP. Around 700,000 searches for PHP keyword in Google on Semrush. Per the Popularity of Programming Language Index (PYPL) of 2024, PHP ranks 7th.
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Why Do Developers Choose PHP Over Other Languages?
PHP is one of the preferred choices for developers all around the globe, regardless of the claim that the language is beginning to become obsolete. It is the go-to language for most CMS platforms; one of the prominent names is WordPress. Other popular CMS built using PHP are Drupal, Magento, Joomla, etc. Therefore, this shows how PHP is maintaining its competitive edge in this ever-evolving digitized world.
The following are some reasons that developers prefer PHP over other languages:
- Compatible and Flexible Language: PHP is a versatile language using which developers can develop different types of web applications. The language runs on all operating systems, including Unix, Mac OS X, Windows, and Linux. It can seamlessly integrate with servers like Apache, Nginx, IIS, and Lighttpd. Besides, PHP works well with other technologies and languages such as HTML, CSS, JavaScript, XML, JSON, SOAP, REST, and OAuth. In addition, its ecosystem is brimming with popular frameworks. PHP developers can make use of the framework to create an application quickly and efficiently.
- Remarkable Speed: Site load matters a lot for the success of organic ranking, and no one likes to wait for more than 3 seconds. PHP sites load more quickly than those built with other languages. Additionally, its features like efficient memory usage and rapid information processing contribute to its remarkable and rapid performance.
- Ease of Learning and Installation: PHP syntax is beginner-friendly, so people who have no prior experience can learn it easily. This ease of learning contributes to a skilled PHP developer’s community. There’s no complex installation process for PHP. If you use a portable server like XAMPP, it can run without installing it.
- Cost Effectiveness: PHP is open source, due to which it is easily accessible. There are no license fees involved. This is extremely beneficial for startups and those with a tight budget.
- Scalable and Secure: Developers can either add servers that can scale horizontally or upgrade hardware. The best part is its ability to handle high traffic and massive amounts of data without any trade-offs, which is commendable. Moreover, it provides security features such as cross-site scripting (XSS), SQL injection, cross-site request forgery (CSRF), and remote code execution (RCE) that are enough to prevent common cyber threats.
- Job Demand in the Market: Demand for PHP developers is still high in the job market. This is a clear sign of the relevance of PHP in 2024. There is a plethora of job opportunities, from full-stack developers to WordPress developers to freelance projects. More than 70% of a website’s backend is backed by PHP
- Supportive Mature Community: PHP has millions of developers worldwide. Therefore, they have contributed to documentation, forums, and resources. This resource can help anyone in times of difficulty.
Different Versions of PHP
PHP has gone through drastic improvements so that it can provide a great development experience to developers. The following table depicts how PHP became better with top-notch capabilities:
| Versions | Key Features |
|---|---|
| PHP 5.6 | This version comes with improved functions such as variadic functions and argument unpacking |
| PHP 7.0 | Offers enhanced performance of the null coalescing operator and return types |
| PHP 7.1 | Includes improved features such as class constant visibility and void return type |
| PHP 7.2 | Includes features such as function overriding and object type hints |
| PHP 7.3 | There are more drastic changes in this version such as nowdoc syntax, reference assignment for destructed arrays, and flexible heredoc |
| PHP 7.4 | Like 7.3, we can see major improvements such as foreign function interface, null coalescing assignment operator, reflection for references, and custom object serialization |
| PHP 8.0 | Offers drastic improvements in performance, constructor property promotion, nullsafe operator, static return type, match expression, union types, mixed type, and just-in-time compilation |
| PHP 8.1 | Improvements in new initializers, fibers, read-only properties, final class constants, enumerations, and noreturn type |
| PHP 8.2 | There are improvements like type system improvements, new random extensions, new functions, and classes, Readonly classes, new built-in parameter attribute |
| PHP 8.3 | There are so many improved features, like typed class constants, a new json_validate() function, deep cloning of read-only properties, dynamic fetching of class constants, and Enum members |
What Are the Latest Trends In PHP Development In 2024?
PHP has been around for more than a decade; this year marks its 30th anniversary. It is trusted by many as a reliable language. Other programming languages remained relevant for quite some time and faded away. However, PHP, with its constant improvements and growth, remained a versatile and efficient language. Today, PHP is not only used for building the backend of websites; it can be used for many different projects.
Formidable Web Security
Since the world has become more digitalized, cyberattacks are increasing day by day. Often, we hear the news of data breaches happening to businesses and individuals. Thus, website security is paramount today. In this regard, PHP offers tools with robust security, such as the Phalcon and CodeIgniter frameworks. Phalcon provides features like asset management, security, and caching, whereas CodeIgniter provides better encryption features.
Smart Voice Search
Today’s gadgets are influenced by voice-over assistance since the release of Amazon Alexa and Siri. There is an unprecedented rise in voice assistants. Most web developers are now implementing voice search into the sites. For this, PHP’s frameworks such as CodeIgniter, CakePHP, and Laravel comes in handy.
Cloud Integration
Over 60% of data is stored in the cloud. Businesses are investing in cloud infrastructure these days. PHP, with better scalability, can seamlessly integrate with cloud services like Google Cloud Platform, Azure, and AWS support PHP applications. This way, businesses can easily manage, scale, and deploy their applications.
Headless CMS
PHP’s wide popularity in CMS largely contributes to its widespread adoption. With its strong legacy in CMS, PHP can smoothly adapt to its headless CMS approach. As a result, developers can use React and Vue through APIs.
Chatbots
Now a days e-commerce sites like Amazon and Myntra, as well as websites include chatbots for better customer experience. These chatbots help answer some of the basic queries, troubleshoot simple issues, and provide documents. Businesses can implement PHP to streamline the development of chatbots at a faster pace.
Internet of things (IoT)
Most houses are equipped with smart appliances and devices these days. These smart devices have provided means of convenience such as managing lightning systems via smartphones, turning on the AC, and many more. But now, IoT enthusiasts are going for PHP over other languages to form a groundbreaking duo for digital interaction. For IoT integration, PHP offers frameworks such as Laravel and Symfony.
Comparing PHP with Other Languages
This section compares it with other powerful languages and highlights its superiority over those programming languages to understand its relevance:
PHP vs Python
PHP is mainly used for web development, and its great strength lies in it, whereas Python is the preferred choice for AI and machine learning. Even though Python has frameworks for web development, it is still not as great as PHP in web development. PHP seamless database connectivity gives more edge in this domain.
PHP vs JavaScript
Both programming languages are popular and equally older in the programming world. JavaScript is used for the client-side development and PHP is used for server-side development. JavaScript can be used to build the backend using Node.js. But PHP’s extensive functionality and broad hosting support can overpower JavaScript in backend development.
PHP vs Ruby
Both languages are open-source and widely used in web development. But Ruby falls short in ease of learning and is considered slower than PHP. On top of that, Ruby needs additional and specialized hosting solutions. Therefore, PHP’s flexible syntax, database handling capabilities, and network operations make it the best option for web development.
Is PHP Relevant In 2024?
Despite the rise of innovative technology, PHP remains the best server-side language. Its flexible syntax, frameworks, robust security, innovative latest trends, and compatibility largely contribute to the language being the most beneficial language today. Thus, we can say that PHP holds solid ground and remains relevant in 2024. If you’re thinking of learning a language and creating some amazing web applications quickly, then you should consider PHP. If you are a PHP developer looking for exciting global job opportunities, then sign up with Olibr today!
FAQs
The PHP framework, Laravel is gaining massive dominance in web development. The release of PHP 8 has seen a rise in the adoption of PHP. Its continuous improvements in performance and security offers PHP a promising future.
Yes. It is easy to learn. Even for someone with no prior experience can learn and start building web applications quickly using PHP.
Yes, there are more than 40% of people using PHP as of 2024.
Laravel is the most demanding PHP framework in 2024. Other popular PHP frameworks include Zend, Laravel, CakePHP, CodeIgniter, etc.
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