Working with PHP Datatypes

For those who have not noticed, this entire site has been constructed from the incredibly powerful PHP server-side programming language. PHP is based heavily upon C++, so all you C++ programmers out there will pick up PHP very easily. What's the difference then? While C++ was designed to be a computer programming language for .exe applications, PHP was designed specifically for the Internet and is native to Linux. This article's intent is not to detail dull programming theory, but to introduce you to PHP datatypes, working with them and manipulating them, minus the wordy mumbo-jumbo. This article presents code...code you can use and learn from. So, let us begin.

First, some unavoidable dialog. PHP is parsed on the server and can be embedded into an HTML document, saved with the .php or .phtml extension. Because the code is parsed on the server, any web visitor who tries to view your source code will NOT see any of your PHP coding, since it has been interpreted and transferred to HTML by the web server. You must have PHP installed on your personal server or your remote server. You may download and install PHP from PHP.net. Now, let's get started, and remember, you can copy and paste all these working examples and try them out yourself.