PHP is the mainstream programming language of choice on servers and many of its extensions are widely used today, but it’s no secret that PHP has its own problems too. The language is used to build everything from dynamic websites and content management systems to enterprise-level web application frameworks.
However, a lot of people still ask a question: Will PHP die in 2022?. The question appears frequently in social media and news media with references to other technology-related companies and events.
Why is that such a popular question? There are probably several reasons. We should remember that PHP is much more popular than it used to be and it’s the most popular web development language today. A lot of organizations choose PHP because of its low development costs and rapid execution time.
Is PHP still used?
Over the past couple of years, we’ve seen the rise of the PHP 7 version and many people are interested in comparing the two. It’s understandable that PHP 7 is the topic of many articles. But you might also wonder whether PHP will die and all attention will move to Python and JavaScript? Of course no, PHP is used and will remain used.
As you can see from picture above, PHP is still used by many developers. Its popularity has somewhat declined compared to old days, but not too much. Let’s figure out, why PHP remain popular and widely used.
Advantages of PHP
We have already talked a lot about the advantages of PHP, so let’s list them below:
- Easy to use, easy to learn. It is suitable for beginners and easy to pick up, which makes it an ideal choice for web developers.
- Easy to integrate into existing systems. PHP is very flexible. It makes PHP suitable for large projects.
- Fast. The performance of PHP is much better than it used to be, as it is optimized with respect to execution speed and memory consumption.
- It’s free. PHP is developed by a non-profit organization which aims on improving the language and not earning money.
- Secure. With release of PHP 8, security of the language greatly improved.
- There is high demand on PHP developers. The number of new PHP positions is growing.
All those advantages and other reasons are what makes PHP a popular language. So, does PHP have a future? Yes. It still has a great future! PHP can continue to attract new users and stay on the market. For a long time, PHP has been the most popular web development language on the market and it will continue to be.
PHP developers: the market
As I already wrote, developers working with PHP are in high demand. There are thousands of companies that create websites using PHP. In addition, the development companies often seek skilled developers to improve their products. For instance, WordPress uses PHP and its official website is built using the same programming language.
You can get a job working with PHP
PHP is a popular programming language. If you are interested in learning the PHP language, then you don’t have to be afraid of its popularity. It’s often said that a person who doesn’t feel attracted to a particular technology should be worried about his/her career, because the work is not exciting enough for him/her. However, this might not be the case with PHP. The language is not a difficult one and you can easily master it. Moreover, the demand for PHP developers is high and you can easily find a job working with PHP and its frameworks.
Conclusion
PHP is a robust and powerful programming language. You can use PHP in many websites. Its community is large and the demand is high. Many PHP developers work in the web development industry and many companies that use PHP are among the most successful companies in the world. So, PHP will not die in 2022 and instead, it will become more popular.