PHP, or Hypertext Preprocessor, is a server-side scripting language that was created by Rasmus Lerdorf in 1994. Originally, it was a personal project that Lerdorf developed to create dynamic web pages and track visitors to his website. However, as the internet began to grow and businesses started to establish a presence online, PHP quickly gained popularity as a powerful tool for web development. In 1995, two developers, Andi Gutmans and Zeev Suraski, rebuilt PHP’s core and introduced it as “Personal Home Page Tools” or PHP/FI. This new version allowed for better performance and increased functionality, making it more attractive for developers to use. By the late 1990s, PHP had become a widely used programming language, especially for developing dynamic web applications. In 1997, version 3 of PHP was released, which included support for databases and the ability to create more complex web applications. This was a major turning point for PHP, as it opened up new possibilities for developers and solidified its position as a go-to language for web development. In 2000, PHP 4 was released, which added more features and improved the language’s overall stability and performance. This version also introduced the Zend Engine, which is still used in the latest versions of PHP. As the internet continued to evolve and new technologies emerged, PHP kept up with the changing landscape and continued to grow in popularity. In 2004, PHP 5 was released, which introduced object-oriented programming and improved the language’s overall design and performance. It also saw the introduction of the popular PHP framework, Symfony, which helped to streamline the development process for web applications. Over the years, PHP has continued to evolve and add new features, such as the introduction of the Composer dependency manager in 2011 and the release of PHP 7 in 2015, which brought significant performance improvements. Today, PHP is one of the most widely used programming languages in the world, powering popular websites like Facebook, Wikipedia, and WordPress. Its evolution from a personal project to a widely used programming language is a testament to its versatility and adaptability, making it a valuable tool for developers and businesses alike.