PHP, or Hypertext Preprocessor, has come a long way since its humble beginnings as a personal project created by Danish-Canadian programmer Rasmus Lerdorf in 1994. Originally, it was designed as a set of Common Gateway Interface (CGI) scripts to track visits to Lerdorf’s online resume. However, as more people began to use and contribute to PHP, it quickly evolved into a full-fledged programming language. In 1995, two developers, Andi Gutmans and Zeev Suraski, rewrote the code base to create PHP 3, which introduced support for server-side scripting and database connectivity. This marked a significant shift for PHP from a simple tool to a powerful web development language. As the internet grew in popularity, so did the need for dynamic and interactive websites. This led to the release of PHP 4 in 2000, which introduced new features like object-oriented programming and improved performance. By this time, PHP had gained a strong following and was being used by major companies like Yahoo and Wikipedia. In 2004, PHP 5 was released, which further improved upon the language’s object-oriented capabilities and added new features such as MySQLi for improved database access. This version solidified PHP’s position as one of the most popular web development languages. In 2014, PHP 7 was released, bringing significant improvements in performance and memory usage. This version also introduced new features like scalar type declarations and anonymous classes. Today, PHP is used by over 78% of all websites, making it one of the most widely used web development languages. Its evolution from a personal project to a popular language is a testament to its versatility, ease of use, and continuous improvement. As technology continues to advance, so will PHP, ensuring its place as a key player in web development for years to come.