PHP, or Hypertext Preprocessor, has come a long way since its humble beginnings as a personal home page scripting language in 1994. Originally created by Danish-Canadian programmer Rasmus Lerdorf, PHP was initially used for tracking visits to his online resume. However, the language quickly gained popularity and evolved into a powerful tool for web development. In 1995, two developers, Andi Gutmans and Zeev Suraski, rewrote the PHP parser, creating the basis for PHP 3. This version introduced new features such as support for databases and improved performance, making it a viable choice for creating dynamic websites. The next major milestone for PHP was the release of version 4 in 2000, which further improved performance and added new features like support for XML and improved error handling. This version solidified PHP’s place as a top choice for web development, with its ease of use, flexibility, and low cost compared to other programming languages. In 2004, PHP 5 was released, bringing even more improvements and adding new concepts like object-oriented programming. This version also included a new engine, Zend Engine 2, which greatly enhanced performance. With the release of PHP 7 in 2015, the language saw significant improvements in speed and memory usage, making it even more attractive for large-scale web applications. PHP has also expanded beyond just web development, with its usage in other areas such as command-line scripting and server-side scripting. Today, PHP is used by millions of websites, including popular platforms like WordPress and Facebook. Its evolution from a simple personal home page scripting language to a powerful and versatile tool for web development is a testament to its continuous growth and adaptation to meet the changing needs of the internet.