“PHP is a server-side scripting language which is embedded
in your HTML. One of its largest strengths (in my opinion) is the
ease with which it interacts with databases. In some ways, PHP
is much like Perl in that it is used in the creation of dynamic web
pages. The next version of PHP, PHP 4, is currently in beta. It is
powered by a new backend engine, Zend, which, well, read below to
find out more….”
“Jeremy: What prompted the writing of the Zend engine as a
backend for PHP 4?”
“Andi: After Zeev and I completed the PHP 3 engine we were not
happy with its speed, limitations and architecture. Therefore, at
some point we decided to completely rewrite it from scratch.”
“Jeremy: Outside of Zend, what are the other new features in PHP
4?”
“Stig: We’ve done a lot of work on the build process on UNIX,
making each function module (extension) and server module
independent and self-contained. It will also be much easier for
vendors distributing PHP to build dynamically loadable PHP
extensions. The session support looks to become the most popular
new feature, but there is lots more functionality in 4.0: native
support for AOLserver, an FTP client extension, multiple file
uploads, being able to read multi-dimensional arrays from
get/post/cookie data, output buffering, a whole bunch of new array
manipulation functions and improvements to existing extensions. And
most important: it takes ages to compile now. 🙂 “