The PHP web application server

A Web application server helps a standard HTTP Web server carry out a variety of tasks, such as form processing and database access. The predominant Web application server for the popular open source Apache Web server is PHP (PHP Hypertext Preprocessor). This paper provides an overview of the PHP scripting language and of its important functionality, including form processing and database access. The paper also discusses campus applications of PHP, including campus service projects, a computer science course on web application development, and student projects.