An introduction to PHP, the LAMP stack (Linux, Apache, MySQL and PHP) and WordPress.

1. PHP, LAMP* Stack &
WordPress
*LAMP = Linux, Apache, MySQL, PHP
Aug 28, 2018

2. Agenda
• Introduction to PHP & LAMP stack
• How PHP & LAMP took the world (at least, shared hosting) by storm
 Why PHP is widely used despite being among the “most disliked” languages!
• PHP applications & frameworks; Laravel
• WordPress (and why it powers 31% of the Internet / websites)
• Demo: installing LAMP, some simple PHP code, installing WordPress

3. PHP
• PHP: Hypertext Preprocessor
 Open source loves recursive acronyms! Other examples: GNU, cURL, RPM, WINE
 Used to be: Personal Home Page Tools (1994-1997)
• Developed by Rasmus Lerdorf in 1994
• PHP Versions
 Initally not meant to be a separate language: worked with CGI (Common Gateway
Interface) scripts / binaries to generate dynamic web pages
 PHP 3 & 4 (1997): re-write of initial PHP. Powered by new Zend Engine.
 PHP 5 (2004): support for OOP & classes, PDO (Data Objects), Windows support!
 Namespaces (backported from PHP 6 which was never released)
 PHP 7 (2014): mainly performance enhancements, reportedly up to 2x
 Multiple legacy features removed (PHP 4 constructor style, <? ?> delimiters)

4. Perl / Python
• P in LAMP stack could also refer to
Perl or Python
• Won’t be discussing those today
• Very different from PHP!
• Examples of directory iteration in
Perl (top) & Python (bottom)
• Today
 Perl used to be go-to script for DevOps
and sysadmins; now less popular
 Python has become Swiss army knife:
used in production systems, DevOps
scripts, automation, production systems
& even web frameworks

5. PHP Basics
• Early PHP (3 and 4) was similar to C
– actually used C function names
• PHP 5+ introduced OOP and
namespaces
• Embedded in HTML documents using
<?php and ?>. File saved as .php,
parsed server-side (web server with
PHP module) and sent as HTML.
 Similar to ASP.Net, JSP, etc
• Drop / copy your PHP files into a web
server, and they just run. No
compilation, build, etc.
 Deployment = test locally, commit to git,
SSH into server, “git pull”

6. Google Trends: PHP, Python, Perl

7. Most Disliked Languages
2017 Stackoverflow Survey
https://stackoverflow.blog/2017/10/31/disliked-programming-languages/

8. LAMP Stack
• LAMP = Linux, Apache, MySQL,
PHP (or Perl or Python)
 Linux = OS
 Apache = Web Server
 MySQL = Database
 PHP = Language
• WAMP = Windows, Apache,
MySQL, PHP
 MAMP = Mac OS, Apache, …
• MEAN = MongoDB, Express.js,
AngularJS, Node.js
• WISA (!) = Windows, IIS, SQL
Server, ASP.Net
Source: https://www.freelancinggig.com/blog/2017/08/04/lamp-stack-vs-wisa-stack-best-startup/

9. Shared Hosting & PHP’s Popularity
• Made popular by GoDaddy
• Bunch of contenders:
DreamHost, HostGator,
1and1, Bluehost, SiteGround
• Web presence at low prices;
multiple domains on 1 server
 $5-$10 a year for a domain
 $3-$10 a month for hosting =
$36 - $60 a year
• Small businesses flocked
towards them to set up a
.com web presence
• Guess what software they
were running on? LAMPSource: http://www.aiteducation.org/2016/07/shared-web-hosting-linux-or-windows/

10. PHP Applications: CMS, Commerce
Source: https://www.rishabhsoft.com/php-application-development

11. PHP Frameworks
• A few years ago, there were
several contenders –
CakePHP, Yii, Symfony,
CodeIgniter
• Today: Laravel leads the
pack
• All frameworks share
similar patterns
 MVC framework
 ORM (Object Relational
Mapping)
 Scaffolding (generate basic
application from models)Source: https://www.quora.com/Which-is-the-best-framework-for-PHP

12. WordPress: Most Popular CMS
• Most popular CMS (Content
Management System)
 Replaced Joomla & Drupal (also PHP)
• Initially started as blog system
• Now also popular e-commerce
platform (with WooCommerce)
 Replacing Magneto (also PHP)
• Open-source, built on PHP. Primarily
runs on LAMP stack
• Initially released in 2003 by Matt
Mullenweg when he was a student
 Now maintained by WordPress
Foundation (non-profit) and Automattic
(for-profit private company)
Source: https://thenextweb.com/dd/2018/03/05/30-of-the-web-now-runs-on-wordpress/

13. WordPress Screenshot