Nowadays if you want to learn full stack web development, you need to learn the basic structure of web, HTML and CSS as well as JavaScript and any one server side language, especially if you want to be a full stack (frontend + backend) developer.
You can learn HTML, CSS and Vanilla JavaScript for frontend development and one of the frontend frameworks (React / Vue / Svelte). However, you have several options for the backend. You can learn and use Python or NodeJs, GOlang or Good-Old PHP for server side development or backend development. These 4 languages are powerful enough for the backend.
But nowadays you will hear many web developers or many in the web development community say that PHP is a dead language. There is no point in using PHP in 2020 and in any future web development project and beginners should now learn another server-side language by avoiding PHP. But how reasonable are these words? I don't think it's logical to think so. Is PHP really a dead language now? Let's talk about it. But first you should know,
Why do so many people dislike PHP?
There are many answers to this question. Depending on who is being asked the question, you will get the same answer from each person. However, the most common reasons why many web developers dislike PHP are:
Initial setup is much more troublesome than other mainstream programming languages or scripting languages.
Compared to other dynamically typed programming languages, PHP's syntax is a bit "weird", which many people can't fit, who basically move to PHP from other languages.
Although there are some real advantages to being able to write PHP codes in direct HTML tags like templating engine, many people are not accustomed to this practice and do not like it.
Installing and maintaining external packages in PHP is much more complicated if you compare Python's Pip and NodeJs with NPM Package Manager, for example. So for those accustomed to NPM, adding and managing external packages to PHP naturally seems like a daunting task.
For that reason PHP is still useful Why do we think PHP still exists after all these troubles and why should we still learn PHP? The biggest reason is right in front of our eyes. Currently, about 707 websites on the Internet are still using PHP and will continue to do so in the future. Even the website or blog on which you are currently reading this article has been created using PHP.So no matter how much you or I dislike PHP, PHP has always been, is and will remain at the forefront of most used server-side languages. If you leave out everything else, then this is the only reason why you should learn PHP. Because, you can be sure that 707 websites on the Internet will not move from PHP to any other language overnight. And if you want, it will take at least another 15 to 20 years to do so.
While a few other server-side languages (such as NodeJs and GOlang) are in some respects ahead of PHP in terms of features, PHP is by no means a dead language. If you want to learn web development, PHP is the best choice for you right now.
Reasons why you should still learn PHP
In a word, PHP is still the most widely used server side language. And so the demand for PHP developers is the highest in the job market right now. This is why you should still learn PHP. Because, you can be sure that in the next 10-15 years, at least in Asia, the demand for other developers will decrease, but the demand for PHP developers will not decrease at all. And if you want to know some specific reasons for learning PHP,
PHP is a very automated or matured language
As you may know, one of the oldest programming languages is PHP, which was released almost 26 years ago today and PHP is still in active development. Needless to say, if a programming language has been in active development for 26 years, how stable and matured it can be. In addition to the basics, PHP has OOP and almost all modern programming functionality that you may or may not find in all other high level dynamically typed programming or scripting languages!
PHP is good for web security
We all know that internet is not a very friendly place. Any website can be a victim of cyber attack at any time. However, PHP is more secure than many other technologies. There are several security infrastructures built into PHP that you can use to easily secure your web application.
PHP is open-source and completely free
This means that PHP is not only free-to-use, you can also inspect the source code of PHP if you want. PHP is very well integrated in Linux. That is, the entire stack of PHP is free and open-source. Everything from HTML CSS to JS Mysql Linux, which is a complete stack of PHP, is usually free and open source.
WordPress and Laravel
Not to mention that a large portion of PHP is omitted. At such times it is difficult to find Internet users who do not know WordPress. Currently the most popular and most used CMS is WordPress, built using PHP. WordPress is currently used by about 707 websites on the Internet.
So as long as WordPress exists, the demand for WordPress Developer and Vanilla PHP Developer i.e. PHP Language will continue to grow. There is a lot of demand from WordPress developers nowadays. But before you can become a WordPress developer, you need to learn PHP. And web frameworks created using PHP, such as CodeIgniter, Laravel are also very popular web frameworks nowadays, and you must know PHP to use them!
#PHP hosting you will find on all types of cloud servers
As PHP is the most widely used scripting language, you will never have to worry about deploying a web application built with PHP. There are currently a number of cloud hosting providers in the market that provide PHP hosting.
Basic PHP is very easy to learn
One of the reasons why Python is such a popular programming language is that learning Basic Python is quite easy for beginners. And for those who already know any other programming language, learning the whole language is much easier. The same is true of PHP. If you have previous experience with C or C Sharp or something like Python or JavaScript, then learning PHP will be very easy for you.
Although declaring variables with PHP's syntax and dollar sign is a bit strange, which is a bit difficult to adapt to, PHP's actual syntax is much simpler and straight forward than many other languages. If you want to know about some of the best free websites for learning programming, you can read this article.
#Wide community for support
As PHP is a very old and most widely used server-side scripting language, PHP has a much larger community than many other programming languages, so you can easily solve any problem you may encounter while using any stack of PHP.