## TL;DR

PHP (Rasmus Lerdorf, 1994, originally Personal Home Page Tools) is a server-side scripting language powering 75%+ of websites with known server-side languages (WordPress, Wikipedia, Facebook). PHP 8.x (2020+) brought JIT compilation, union types, match expressions, named arguments, and fibers.

## Core Explanation

PHP 8.0: JIT compiler, union types, match expression, named arguments, attributes. PHP 8.1: enums, fibers (async), readonly properties. PHP 8.4 (2024): property hooks, asymmetric visibility. Composer: dependency manager (`composer.json`). PHP-FPM: FastCGI Process Manager — handles requests efficiently. PSR standards ensure framework interoperability.

## Further Reading

- [PHP Manual](https://www.php.net/docs.php)