PHP, which stands for Hypertext Preprocessor, is a server-side scripting language that is widely used for web development. It was created in 1994 by Rasmus Lerdorf, who initially developed it for his personal home page. At the time, PHP was a simple set of Common Gateway Interface (CGI) scripts that allowed Lerdorf to track visitors to his website. However, as the popularity of the internet grew, so did the demand for more dynamic and interactive websites. This led Lerdorf to release the first version of PHP as an open-source project in 1995.

In the late 1990s, two developers named Andi Gutmans and Zeev Suraski rewrote the core of PHP, creating the PHP 3 version. This new version included a more robust and modular architecture, making it easier to extend and maintain. It also introduced the concept of server-side scripting, allowing PHP to be embedded within HTML code. This made it possible to create dynamic web pages that could interact with databases and other server-side technologies.

As the internet continued to evolve, so did PHP. In the early 2000s, the release of PHP 4 brought significant improvements, including better support for object-oriented programming (OOP) and the introduction of the Zend Engine, which improved performance and allowed for better error handling. This version of PHP also saw a surge in popularity, with major websites like Yahoo! and Wikipedia adopting it for their development.

In 2004, PHP 5 was released, introducing even more advanced features such as improved OOP support, XML parsing, and web services. This version also brought significant performance improvements and made PHP a more robust and mature language for web development. It also paved the way for the development of popular frameworks such as Laravel, Symfony, and CodeIgniter, which made it easier to build complex web applications using PHP.

Today, PHP is one of the most widely used programming languages for web development, powering over 79% of all websites on the internet. Its popularity is due to its ease of use, flexibility, and wide range of features that make it suitable for creating everything from simple personal websites to complex enterprise applications.

In recent years, the development of PHP has continued, with the release of PHP 7 in 2015 and PHP 8 in 2020. These versions brought even more improvements, including better performance, new features, and enhanced security. With its constant evolution and adaptation to the ever-changing landscape of the internet, PHP remains a powerful and popular choice for web development.