Benefits of developing a website using PHP 7

Around 82% of all websites on the Internet have been built using PHP. This server-side programming language is used and admired by social media giants like Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest; Wikipedia and WordPress. No doubt PHP is the most sought after programming language globally. It provides solutions that are most suitable for social media, e-commerce, banking and other types of websites.

Why PHP remains so popular

PHP has been present on the programming market since 1994. The technology has significantly evolved over 22 years, and its popularity is still increasing. There are good reasons why PHP has turned into a long-lived and dominant development tool.

• Compared to such programming languages as Java or .Net, PHP is easy to understand and learn, making it possible for programmers to take advantage of giant libraries created over 22 years ago.
• PHP is a server-side programming language, which means that websites built in PHP can be accessed from any computer or device. Processing is conducted on a host server, not on a user’s computer.
• PHP serves as a foundation for the most popular CMS plugins (WordPress, Joomla, Magento, Drupal, OpenCart) and frameworks (Symfony, CodeIgniter).
• Because PHP is so widespread, there are a great amount of experienced developers with the tools to create rapid and uncomplicated solutions for your project.
• PHP is free and does not require fees for licensing.
• PHP code integrates with all major platforms (Windows, Linux, Unix) and is user-friendly.

Improvements with the introduction of PHP 7

The wave of users surfing the Internet on mobile devices is rapidly overtaking all other forms of contact through the Internet. Studies have shown that almost half of them are not willing to wait for a page to load in over three seconds. Considering the undependable chances of a slow Internet connection, having servers respond immediately is a top professional priority. With PHP 7, website performance is going to change dramatically for the better. With so many websites using PHP, overall global website performance is expected to increase.

• High site performance

The latest PHP upgrade is 2-3 times faster than the previous popular PHP 5.6 version. PHP 7 cuts memory consumption by up to 50%, because it handles data with a more efficient structure, leading the way to include more complicated interactive features without sacrificing load time. Note: Upgrading from PHP 5.6 to PHP 7 requires a thorough code and related library examination. Doing this work and upgrading to avoid any potential incompatibilities, will result in a much better user experience.

• Cost efficiency

The latest version of PHP promises to maintain PHP’s strong market position in programming languages because of its improved features, while still being cost-effective. The new technology helps create scripts to run more efficiently by reducing server demand.

• Easier error handling

During development, encountering fatal errors in PHP 5 created difficulties for programmers and consumers alike, because the only solution would be to stop the script from running and creating down time over the whole Internet website, bringing difficulties for viewers, who suddenly lost the ability to access a website.  Any time this happens, it lowers a website’s reliability and credibility. PHP 7 resolved this major issue by introducing a new feature that allows programmers to replace errors with exception rules, so the website continues to run normally, while issues are being resolved.

Content created by our partner, Onix-systems.