PHP QuickStart Guide (2015)

Glossary

Boolean: in reference to a program variable, one that has a binary (one of 2) value of TRUE or FALSE.

CGI: Common Gateway Interface - a web server interface that allows hosted content to interact with programs stored on the server. Typically used for implementation of applications written in C, Perl, Java and similar languages.

concatenate: to join elements together to form a series or chain, particularly strings.

constant: a fixed value cataloged for use in a program and assigned a label, which is used to reference the value for the program. The value of a constant remains the same throughout the program.

control structure: a group of program statements that determines program flow by analyzing data provided and acting according to predetermined parameters.

CSS: Cascading Style Sheets – the name applied to a markup language used to create “styles” for formatting web pages.

compiler: a software application that converts high-level code into binary code executable by a computer.

cron: a built-in program on Unix-style web servers that can be used to execute stored programs at timed intervals.

delimiter: a character or series of characters designated for the separation of various types of text in a programming language.

dynamic website: a website that delivers content that may vary in response to user input, date, time, or other conditions.

high-level: denotes a programming language that does not require the programmer to write machine-readable code in order to create working applications.

hosting account: an account and the associated disk space allotted to the client of a hosting company, normally used to store the content for the client's website.

index: the numeric position of an element in a PHP array. PHP array indexing begins at zero.

interpreter: a software application that converts high-level code into an intermediate code before conversion to binary code executable by a computer.

key: the label applied to an element in an associative array. Associative arrays consist of key and value pairs, wherein the key can be used to reference the value.

OOP (Object Oriented Programming): a programming method based on instances of objects and their classes and methods, to approximate real-world situations.

parentheses: a pair of parenthetical signs, as ( ), used to contain parameters for a PHP statement or control the order of operations in calculations.

parse: the act of analyzing a string of text and interpreting its elements to produce the desired result. In PHP, parsing is accomplished by the language's built-in interpreter in order to execute the programming code.

procedural programming: a programming method in which procedures are created by means of a step-by-step series of statements that return a result.

script: a web application, i.e. a program intended to run on an internet site.

server-side: refers to an application that runs on a web server to deliver content to a web browser or other remote software. Server-side code offers transparency and saves resources on client computers as compared to client-side.

variable: a non-fixed value cataloged for use in a program, assigned a label which is used to reference the value during a program. The value of a variable can be acted upon and changed by statements within the program.

web server: a software application that resides on a computer connected to the Internet, designed to deliver website content in response to requests from “client” applications such as web browsers.

Zend Engine: the name given to the PHP interpreter included as part of the core software.