Here's a riddle for you: What has (at least) 9 lives besides cats? Well... the ever dying and always resurrecting PHP, of course! But joke aside: what about PHP in 2019?
Will it fade away? Will it still be relevant for building web apps, content-packed and dynamic websites? Or, does it risk (once again) to get retired due to other emerging, hard-to-resist-to technologies rivaling it?
Does “aged” mean "deprecated" in its case?
And if, so they say, PHP is not a “good-looking” language... why are we still using JavaScript then? JS frameworks don't necessarily excel when it comes to... elegance?
In other words:
“Why would you still be interested in using PHP (other than nostalgia or... pure habit) for building your websites and applications in 2019, as well?”
Here are some of the strongest reasons:
1. Some of the Leading CMSs Are Built on PHP
Just think WordPress, think Drupal, powering the most high-trafficked and content-packed websites out there. Think Joomla...
They're all PHP-based and they make the best guarantee that:
You get to use PHP in 2019 to build content-loaded websites that are conveniently easy to update. Website admins, even the less technical staff, will be empowered to easily make changes and manage their content.
Here, think of the overwhelming collection of PHP-based themes and plugins developed for WordPress only. Right at your disposal, to just grab and use for breathing life into your web projects...
Now, here's another example for you:
Think Magento, another widely used PHP-powered CMS. Website owners get to focus their resources on... boosting their sales, since they get a platform working right out of the box, instead of getting tangled up in code.
And that's just one of the strong reasons why you'd still want to use PHP next year, too.
2. It's Conveniently Easy to Update
And when it's a PHP website carrying thousands of pages that you're working on, instant updates become critical.
Being a server-side scripting language, PHP handles all updates from the server side (obviously!). The result: boosted security!
3. It's Quick and Simple to Deploy
With or without a framework, PHP in 2019 will still lead as the quickest server-side back-end programming language.
Moreover, it scales like no other, as well.
And to those doubting its scalability capabilities:
Think Wikipedia, think Facebook!
4. PHP Comes “Packed” With A Heavy Load of Libraries and Extensions
Lots and lots of them, so you can easily handle:
- blogging pages
- shopping carts
- WebSocket server (Ratchet, ReactPHP, Swoole, which performs faster than rival Node.js itself)
And let me briefly highlight some of the key tasks that you'd be streamlining when leveraging some of these libraries that PHP spoils you with:
- handling syntax
- error display
- code debugging
Not to mention that PHP provides you with a simple, easy to use API, ready-to-use functions for whatever web services you might need to use. And that it simplifies integration, too.
Note: take Composer, a reliable, reputed package manager, then choose any of the provided framework agnostic packages and simply incorporate them into your web project.
5. PHP in 2019 Goes Beyond Web App Development
Like it already has, actually.
You're free to:
- “team it up” with .net languages via PeachPie
- use it in GUI applications
- use it to power your IoT projects with (particularly in edge/gateway)
6. PHP Documentation Simply... Stands Out
And this is no exaggeration, but a fact that even those who already buried PHP a few years ago would agree on.
PHP's documentation support still makes an excellent go-to resource for both newcomers and experienced PHP developers.
And here I cannot but mention the PHP document generator and all the richly documented elements such as:
- hooks (actions and filters)
- classes and their properties
- inline comments
- class method and functions
- file headers
7. High Availability of Senior PHP Developers
I'm not talking here about so-called “experienced” developers, who've been working “intensively” with PHP for about ... about 2-3 years.
I'm referring to professionals with +10 years experience in leveraging PHP while working on various types of web development projects.
And this high availability of PHP experts can only translate into:
- accessible and high-quality support and maintenance services (PHP website admins will never run out of options when it comes to calling an expert to come to their rescue whenever they're facing a technical hurdle)
- low(er) development costs, with all those open source projects to use as valuable resources and the high availability of PHP professionals on the market
8. It Enables Developers to Build Dynamic Websites Easily
Data gets accessed and executed... dynamically with PHP. When it comes to building dynamic websites the easy way, there's still no other language rivaling it.
Furthermore, it's's built to run multiple threads/handle multitasking. To execute remarkably well on multi-core systems (unlike its “competitor”, the so very popular Node.js).
And I shall “abruptly” end here my list of top reasons why you would still use be interested in using PHP in 2019. Of course, I could go on outlining its versatility, it's rich syntax, the “shiny and new” PHP 7's significant improvements boosting its performance dramatically. Instead, I stop here.
How about you? What are your own main reasons for “stubbornly” sticking to PHP (if that's the case) when working on your web development projects next year?
