Web Application Development with PHP
Authors: Till Gerken, Tobias Ratschiller
Venue:  (2000)

From the Book:When I first came across PHP about three years ago, I never imagined that one day I'd be writing a foreword for a PHP book. As a matter of fact, back then, the possibility that there would actually ever be any PHP books seemed a bit far-fetched. Looking back at what made PHP grow to be one of the most widely used scripting languages for Web development is no less than astonishing. My involvement in the PHP project started, like many things, by accident. As an end user, I'd stumbled on a bug in PHP/FI 2.0-something that was weird enough to get colleague Andi Gutmans and me to look under the hood. When we saw the code that made PHP/FI 2.0 tick, we weren't too pleased with it. On the other hand, we really liked the idea of an HTML-embedded, server-embedded server-side scripting language. So, like good to-be software engineers, we decided it'd be cool to write it from scratch, but this time, the "right way."Our rewrite of the language, and the huge amount of cooperative work that was put into a wide variety of function modules and sample code, pushed PHP beyond our wildest dreams and expectations. PHP is being used today on well over a million domains on the Internet, and is the tool of choice for server-side scripting in UNIX environments. PHP 4.0 is the next step in ensuring that PHP remains on the cutting edge of Web scripting technologies for years to come. The Zend engine (www.zend.com) revolutionizes the performance and scalability of PHP-based Web sites. Its integrated session support; built-in XML, Java, and COM support; as well as a bundle of additional features enable the Web developer to develop more powerful dynamic sites, more easily than everbefore.With the continued development and integration of leading-edge technologies, PHP stays up to date. The new Java and DCOM support, the advanced XML features, and the improved OOP features further increase PHP's acceptance in business environments and make PHP a viable tool for enterprise computing. The commercial addons from Zend Technologies-for example, the debugger, IDE, and compiler-will lead to a further leap. Also, the insides of PHP 4.0 have gone through architectural revolutions that will be largely unnoticed by the end user. For example, the Web server interface has been completely abstracted, allowing the support of Web servers other than Apache. Books like the one you're reading right now provide you with the necessary background to utilize these new technologies successfully.In my opinion, the future looks bright for Open Source in general and PHP in particular. In 1997, you had to jump through hoops just to convince your manager that Linux was at least as stable as Windows NT, and using Open Source in large companies wasn't even considered. The world has changed. Companies that took the mission to back Linux-based solutions, such as RedHat, SuSE, and VA Linux, have not only become commercial giants, but also positioned Linux and Open Source in general as an acceptable solution in every company today. Luckily, these companies were smart enough to do that while keeping the Open Source spirit and a strong relationship with the community. The Open Source development model on one hand, and the firm commercial backing on the other, brought Linux to unimaginable heights. I'm sure that commercial companies that take the mission to back PHP such as Zend Technologies, will help in making PHP an even more widely used solution, especially in the highest-end Web sites.I would like to take this opportunity to thank Prof. Michael Rodeh of IBM Haifa and the Technion Institute of Technology, who encouraged Andi and me to cooperate with Rasmus Lerdorf, the author of PHP/FI 1.0 and 2.0; Rasmus Lerdorf, who was very happy to cooperate with us to make PHP 3.0 the official PHP/FI 2.0 successor; The PHP Group and the entire team of PHP developers, without which PHP wouldn't have been the excellent tool it is today; and finally, the PHP community, which has proven to be an endless resource for ideas and support.I'm sure you'll find this book helpful when learning about advanced PHP and the development of Web applications. This is one of the few books covering more than the mere syntax of a language-it introduces you to the concepts behind the language, and can help you to enhance your problem-solving skills in Web programming.Good luck!Zeev Suraski