PHP Application Developer

Authors
  • avatar
    Name
    Paul Bonnette
    Twitter

Almost 20 years developing in PHP (LAMP)

PHP is a fantastic programming language.

  • It enjoys a massive network of support.
  • PHP-FPM makes it fast and flexible.
  • GitHub makes a great version control platform.
  • Compose is a powerful dependency manager.
  • Laravel is a well designed PHP framework.

Applications

For almost 20 years I've been developing applications in PHP (LAMP). Most of these applications were developed based on my own framework which I started in 2003, even before WordPress™ was even invented.

I've used PHP to build applications for:

  • Quoting/Estimate System - over half a billion dollars in quotes streamlining complex estimates saving on labor, eliminating costly mistakes and more.
  • Aftermarket Parts - eCommerce websites with over $15 million in sales included advanced inventory control, assemblies, barcodes, custom shopping cart and more.
  • Health Benefits Portal - allowing employees to check their benefits online with QuickBook and other integrations.
  • Wholesale & Flower eCommerce - tracked inventory between multiple warehouses with wholesale ordering, custom catalog and more.
  • Websites - using my own framework we could do anything.

PHP / LAMP Performance and Architecture

PHP (LAMP) applications can handle thousands of connections per second and are very scalable using technologies such as PHP-FPM (FastCGI Process Manager) and Docker. LAMP applications blow away the performance of the older client-server technologies used in Windows applications, which I use to build in Delphi (a variant of Turbo Pascal).

Apache handles incoming request and handles static content. PHP requests are passed off to PHP-FPM running on a separate port in a separate Docker container. PHP passes any database requests off to another Docker container which is running MySQL.

This architecture allows for enormous scalability as a website can easily add more servers (usually PHP processing) as need be.

One of our massive clients has processed over half a billion dollars in orders/estimates based on PHP (LAMP) architecture.

The future of PHP

Originally developed in 1995 PHP is still used in 79.8% of websites for server-side programming.

PHP is used to build and adapt WordPress websites, as well as many popular platforms today.

PHP 5 supports a command line interface (CLI) making it a useful programming language for non-website projects.

PHP has a massive following and will continue to be an industry standard for years to come.

Learn about PHP Trends.