Chapter 3. PHP and the Web

Terms You’ll Need to Understand

  • Server-side

  • Client-side

  • Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP)

  • GET request

  • POST request

  • Superglobal array

  • HTTP header

  • Cookie

  • Session

  • Session identifier

Techniques You’ll Need to Master

  • Distinguishing between server-side and client-side

  • Handling form data using superglobal arrays

  • Working with cookies

  • Persisting data in sessions

Server-side Versus Client-side

One of the keys to understanding PHP’s role in the Web is to understand how the Web works at a fundamental level. This generally involves a basic understanding of HTTP, Hypertext Transfer Protocol. To examine the basic operation of the Web, consider a typical HTTP client, your Web browser. When you visit a URL such as http://example.org/, your browser ...

Get Zend PHP Certification Study Guide now with the O’Reilly learning platform.

O’Reilly members experience books, live events, courses curated by job role, and more from O’Reilly and nearly 200 top publishers.