PHP, or Hypertext Preprocessor, is a popular open-source scripting language that is widely used in web development. It was first created in 1994 by Rasmus Lerdorf as a set of Common Gateway Interface (CGI) scripts to track visitors to his online resume. It was initially called Personal Home Page (PHP) Tools, and it was not intended to be a programming language. However, as its popularity grew, Lerdorf decided to release it as open-source software, and it quickly became a popular tool for creating dynamic web pages. In 1997, two developers, Andi Gutmans and Zeev Suraski, rewrote the PHP parser and created the base for PHP 3. This version included support for more databases, such as MySQL, and had a more robust architecture, making it easier to extend and develop. In 1998, the first official version of PHP, PHP 3.0, was released, and it gained a significant following in the web development community. With the release of PHP 4 in 2000, the language became more object-oriented, making it easier to write complex and modular code. This led to its widespread adoption by companies and developers, and it became one of the most popular languages for web development. As the internet and web technologies continued to evolve, so did PHP. In 2004, PHP 5 was released, introducing a new and improved object model and support for XML. This version also included significant performance enhancements, making PHP a more powerful and efficient language. With the release of PHP 7 in 2015, the language underwent a major overhaul, with significant improvements in speed and memory usage. It also introduced new features, such as scalar type declarations and anonymous classes, making it more robust and modern. Today, PHP is used by millions of developers and powers some of the most popular websites and web applications, such as Facebook and WordPress. Its evolution from a simple set of scripts to a powerful programming language is a testament to its versatility and adaptability in the ever-changing world of web development.