Do I need PHP? Should I learn it?

Most hosts support PHP. I would be asking WHY, if one did not. PHP is used on more than 13 million websites (*used* not just available). So, you do not have to decide, here and now, if you need PHP... it will be there when you decide to explore it. It was introduced in 1999 and has become extremely popular.

PHP is a scripting language. Scripts are little programs that make things happen on your website. Collecting the data in a contact form and emailing it to you, for instance. Or letting people register for an email list, or join a message board community.

There are other scripting languages that are popular for building web applications, like Perl, cold fusion, .asp, and .jsp... but PHP has the advantage of having been developed specifically for web scripting. Perl is probably the most comparable, as many Perl scripts are widely available. PHPNuke and PostNuke (content management systems, and phpBB (bulletin board community), are among the free website scripts that have driven the popularity of PHP.

There are lots of sites that catalog and rate PHP and Perl scripts. Try Hotscripts, for a start. http://www.hotscripts.com/PHP/Scripts_and_Programs/index.html

It is part of the LAMP development platform: Linux, Apache, mySQL, PHP... a collection of open-source software that works together particularly well for develping web applications. The Linux hosting platform is rapidly becoming the leading platform for shared hosting. Shared hosting is where you rent a little space on a server you share with a lot of other people who rent from the server owner. It is far less expensive to set up a LAMP development platform than any Windows platform, and the Linux environment is considered more secure for shared hosting, so Linux hosting is generally cheaper and more reliable.

You do not have to learn PHP (or Perl) to use it.... you can find zillions of scripts written by other people, ready to be installed on your site. You will want to learn how to install scripts: how to set up a database for a script to use, how to set the user permissions on various files, the difference between a path and a URL, how to decide where to put a script in your file directory, some basic troubleshooting skills. You probably already have some needed skills, like experience with an FTP client. Be sure to check with your host for any "banned" scripts or other limits... some scripts are a problem on a shared server.

I would recommend becoming familiar with both PHP and Perl scripts (They are used in both Linux and Windows hosting environments). .ASP is a Microsoft product... you might want to learn something about it if you plan to work in a Microsoft environment. It can be emulated in a Linux environment by software like Chilisoft, but not perfectly

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