PHP (which, after much debate, has been decided to stand for
Hypertext Preprocessor) is a "a server-side, cross-platform, HTML
embedded scripting language." The PHP language is quite powerful
and allows a Webmaster to create extremely sophisticated Web pages.
Like Perl "CGI" scripts, PHP programs are executed "on-the-fly"
by your Web server. Unlike Perl, PHP scripts are embedded within
your HTML file itself, making the program easier to read, debug
and understand at a glance.
Furthermore, PHP contains many Web-specific functions that
facilitate advanced Web features such as form interpretation, cookies,
http-header manipulation, database access, automatic headers and
footers, dynamic page generation, etc.
Developed specifically for use with the Web, many Web programmers have
found PHP to be a welcome alternative to Perl CGI scripts. PHP is a
simple language to learn for anyone familiar with Perl, and offers
a greater degree of simplicity and elegance, often saving dozens
of steps and keeping the number of files to maintain at a bare minimum.
Your Web Hosting Site supports both versions 2.x and 3.x of
PHP. Your PHP scripts are denoted by their extension, either .phtml
or .php3
PHP files using the extension .phtml will be interpreted by
PHP 2.0.PHP files using the extension .php3 will be interpreted
by PHP 3.0.
PHP 2.x is supported only for backward compatibility for customers
who already use it, and will be phased out at some point in the
future. We strongly recommend that new customers use version 3.0
(.php3).
Note: Although EarthLink's web servers are equipped
with PHP, EarthLink's Business Services Support technicians
cannot assist in the creation or maintenance of PHP scripts. For
help with your PHP scripts, visit php.net's support page
at
http://www.php.net/support.php
.
Complete documentation, as well as sample sites, example code,
and links to other sites are available at the PHP home page:
http://www.php.net
.
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