Editing PHP (section)

== <span id=PDO><span id=ZEPHIR>Development and community</span></span> ==
PHP includes various [[list of PHP libraries|free and open-source libraries]] in its source distribution or uses them in resulting PHP binary builds. PHP is fundamentally an [[Internet]]-aware system with built-in modules for accessing [[File Transfer Protocol]] (FTP) servers and many database servers, including [[PostgreSQL]], [[MySQL]], [[Microsoft SQL Server]] and [[SQLite]] (which is an embedded database), [[Lightweight Directory Access Protocol|LDAP]] servers, and others. Numerous functions are familiar to C programmers, such as those in the [[stdio.h|stdio]] family, are available in standard PHP builds.<ref>{{cite web|access-date=2015-01-14|url=https://php.net/manual/en/indexes.functions.php|title=PHP: Function and Method listing{{snd}} Manual |publisher=The PHP Group}}</ref>

PHP allows developers to write [[Software extension|extensions]] in [[C (programming language)|C]] to add functionality to the PHP language. PHP extensions can be compiled statically into PHP or loaded dynamically at runtime. Numerous extensions have been written to add support for the [[Windows API]], process management on [[Unix-like]] [[operating system]]s, multibyte strings ([[Unicode]]), [[cURL]], and several popular [[archive format|compression formats]]. Other PHP features made available through extensions include integration with [[Internet Relay Chat]] (IRC), dynamic generation of images and [[Adobe Flash]] content, ''PHP Data Objects'' (PDO) as an abstraction layer used for accessing databases,<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.php.net/manual/en/intro.pdo.php |title=Introduction{{snd}} Manual |website=php.net |date=2013-06-07 |access-date=2013-06-13}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.onlamp.com/pub/a/php/2004/08/05/dataobjects.html|title=Simplify Business Logic with PHP DataObjects&nbsp;— O'Reilly Media|author=Darryl Patterson|date=5 August 2004|website=ibm.com|access-date=16 December 2014|archive-date=16 December 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141216140653/http://www.onlamp.com/pub/a/php/2004/08/05/dataobjects.html|url-status=dead}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www-128.ibm.com/developerworks/db2/library/techarticle/dm-0612xia/|title=IBM&nbsp;— United States|access-date=16 December 2014}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www-128.ibm.com/developerworks/library/os-php-dbmistake/index.html |title=Five common PHP database problems |website=ibm.com |date=2006-08-01 |access-date=2013-06-13}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.redbooks.ibm.com/abstracts/sg247218.html|title=IBM Redbooks&nbsp;— Developing PHP Applications for IBM Data Servers|website=redbooks.ibm.com|access-date=16 December 2014}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.phparch.com/issue.php?mid=65|title=php[architect] Magazine – The Journal for PHP Programmers|website=www.phparch.com}}</ref><ref>{{cite magazine|url=http://www.infoworld.com/article/05/10/19/HNphpshow_1.html|title=PHP catching on at enterprises, vying with Java|last=Krill|first=Paul|date=19 October 2005|magazine=InfoWorld|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140713004345/http://www.infoworld.com/d/developer-world/php-catching-enterprises-vying-java-708|archive-date=13 July 2014}}</ref> and even [[speech synthesis]]. Some of the language's core functions, such as those dealing with strings and arrays, are also implemented as extensions.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://lxr.php.net/xref/PHP_5_4/ext/standard/|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120316010914/http://lxr.php.net/xref/PHP_5_4/ext/standard/|url-status=dead|archive-date=16 March 2012|title=Cross Reference: /PHP_5_4/ext/standard/|website=php.net|access-date=16 December 2014}}</ref> The [[PHP Extension Community Library]] (PECL) project is a repository for extensions to the PHP language.<ref>{{cite web|access-date=2008-02-25|url=http://www.devnewz.com/090902b.html|title=Developing Custom PHP Extensions |website=devnewz.com |date=2002-09-09 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20080218045752/http://www.devnewz.com/090902b.html |archive-date = 2008-02-18}}</ref>

Some other projects, such as ''Zephir'', provide the ability for PHP extensions to be created in a high-level language and compiled into native PHP extensions. Such an approach, instead of writing PHP extensions directly in C, simplifies the development of extensions and reduces the time required for programming and testing.<ref>{{cite web
| url = https://docs.zephir-lang.com/en/latest/motivation.html
| title = Why Zephir?
| date = 2015-10-20 | access-date = 2015-12-14
| website = zephir-lang.com
}}</ref>

By December 2018 the PHP Group consisted of ten people: [[Thies C. Arntzen]], [[Stig Bakken]], [[Shane Caraveo]], [[Andi Gutmans]], [[Rasmus Lerdorf]], [[Sam Ruby]], [[Sascha Schumann]], [[Zeev Suraski]], [[Jim Winstead]], and [[Andrei Zmievski]].<ref>{{cite web|title=PHP Credits|url=https://php.net/credits|access-date=2018-12-16}}</ref>

[[Zend Technologies]] provides a [[Zend Certified Engineer|PHP Certification]] based on PHP&nbsp;8<!-- assumed or still only 7? It's hard to confirm at target page and exploring I at least ocnfirmed some things are updated to 8, or 8.1: https://training.zend.com/learn/courses/271/php-architect  Develop asynchronous programming apps using PHP 8.1 fibers --><ref>{{Cite web|title=Learn PHP Via PHP Training and PHP Certification|url=https://www.zend.com/training/php|access-date=2020-11-16|website=www.zend.com}}</ref> exam (and previously based on PHP&nbsp;7 and 5.5) for programmers to become certified PHP developers.