Core PHP Programming, Third Edition

1.1. The Origins of PHP

Wonderful things come from singular inspiration. PHP began life as a simple way to track visitors to Rasmus Lerdorf's resume. It also could embed SQL queries in Web pages. But as often happens on the Web, admirers quickly asked for their own copies. As a proponent of the Internet's ethic of sharing, and as a generally agreeable person, Rasmus unleashed upon an unsuspecting Web his Personal Home Page Tools version 1.0.

“Unleashed upon himself” may be more accurate. PHP became very popular. A consequence was a flood of suggestions. PHP 1.0 filtered input, replacing simple commands for HTML. As its popularity grew, people wondered if it couldn't do more. Loops, conditionals, rich data structures—all the conveniences of modern ...