PHP, or Hypertext Preprocessor, has come a long way since its humble beginnings as a personal home page tool. What started as a simple scripting language for creating dynamic web pages has now evolved into a powerful programming language used by millions of developers around the world. The history of PHP dates back to 1994 when Rasmus Lerdorf created a set of Common Gateway Interface (CGI) scripts to track visits to his online resume. These scripts were written in C and Perl and were later named “Personal Home Page Tools” or simply “PHP Tools”. However, it wasn’t until 1995 when Andi Gutmans and Zeev Suraski rewrote the codebase and created the first version of PHP as we know it today. This version, called PHP/FI, was a server-side scripting language that allowed for the creation of dynamic web pages. It quickly gained popularity due to its simplicity and ease of use compared to its predecessors. In 1997, the first official version of PHP, PHP 3, was released and it included a wide range of new features such as support for databases, cookies, and more. This version marked the beginning of PHP’s journey into becoming a full-fledged programming language. With the release of PHP 4 in 2000, the language underwent significant changes and improvements, including the introduction of the Zend Engine which greatly improved its performance. It was also during this time that PHP started gaining traction in the corporate world, becoming a popular choice for building websites and web applications. In 2004, PHP 5 was released with even more advanced features such as object-oriented programming and improved error handling. This version solidified PHP’s position as a powerful programming language and it continued to gain popularity among developers. Fast forward to today, PHP has reached version 8 and has become one of the most widely used programming languages, powering websites and applications for companies like Facebook, Wikipedia, and WordPress. The evolution of PHP has been a remarkable journey, from a simple personal home page tool to a robust programming language that continues to evolve and improve with each new release. Its user-friendly syntax, vast library of frameworks and libraries, and strong community support make it a top choice for developers all over the world.