PHP in 2025: A Practical Guide for Beginners and Intermediate Developers

Source: Dev.to

What Is PHP and Why Is It Still Relevant?

PHP (Hypertext Preprocessor) is a server‑side scripting language used to build dynamic and interactive websites. It is:

• Easy to learn
• Beginner‑friendly
• Well‑supported
• Fast in production
• Deeply integrated with HTML
• Backed by frameworks like Laravel, Symfony, and CodeIgniter

More than 75 % of today’s websites use PHP, which means opportunities to build, maintain, and scale systems with PHP remain huge.

Your First PHP Script

1. Install a local server stack (XAMPP, Laragon, WAMP) or enable PHP on Linux/macOS.
2. Create a file named index.php with the following content:

 "Klie",
    "role" => "Developer",
    "lang" => "PHP"
];

echo $user["role"]; // Developer

Functions and Reusability

  
  Submit

PHP Handler

setAttribute(PDO::ATTR_ERRMODE, PDO::ERRMODE_EXCEPTION);

    $statement = $pdo->prepare("SELECT * FROM users");
    $statement->execute();

    $users = $statement->fetchAll();

    foreach ($users as $user) {
        echo $user['name'] . "
";
    }
} catch (PDOException $e) {
    echo "Database error: " . $e->getMessage();
}

Introduction to OOP in PHP

name = $name;
        $this->role = $role;
    }

    function info() {
        return "$this->name is a $this->role";
    }
}

$user = new User("Farhad", "Full-Stack Developer");
echo $user->info();

PHP Best Practices for 2025

• Use Laravel or Symfony for large projects.
• Use PDO or Eloquent ORM for database access.
• Enable strict typing:

declare(strict_types=1);

• Follow PSR standards:
  • PSR‑1 – coding style
  • PSR‑4 – autoloading
• Validate all user input.
• Store configuration in environment variables (.env).
• Avoid mixing HTML and PHP in large projects; separate concerns with templating engines or front‑end frameworks.

Conclusion

PHP has matured into a powerful, stable, and modern backend language. Whether you are just starting your programming journey or upgrading your skills for real‑world projects, PHP is a reliable option in 2025. Its strong ecosystem, huge community, and frameworks like Laravel make it a long‑term, career‑friendly choice. If you want to build web applications—from small blog systems to large‑scale platforms—PHP remains a practical and efficient language worth mastering.