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<?xml version="1.0" encoding="iso-8859-1"?>
<!-- $Revision: 1.22 $ -->
<chapter id="faq.general">
<title>General Information</title>
<titleabbrev>General Information</titleabbrev>
<para>
This section holds the most general questions about PHP:
what it is and what it does.
</para>
<qandaset>
<qandaentry id="faq.general.what">
<question>
<para>What is PHP?</para>
</question>
<answer>
<para>
From the <link linkend="preface">preface of the manual</link>:
</para>
<para>
PHP is an HTML-embedded scripting language. Much of
its syntax is borrowed from C, Java and Perl with a couple of unique
PHP-specific features thrown in. The goal of the language is to
allow web developers to write dynamically generated pages quickly.
</para>
<para>
A nice introduction to PHP by Stig Sæther Bakken can be found
at <ulink url="&url.zend.introduction;">&url.zend.introduction;</ulink> on the Zend
website. Also, much of the
<ulink url="&url.php.conf;">PHP Conference Material</ulink> is freely available.
</para>
</answer>
</qandaentry>
<qandaentry id="faq.general.acronym">
<question>
<para>What does PHP stand for?</para>
</question>
<answer>
<para>
PHP stands for <emphasis>PHP: Hypertext Preprocessor</emphasis>.
This confuses many people because the first word of the acronym is
the acronym. This type of acronym is called a recursive acronym.
The curious can visit
<ulink url="&url.foldoc;">Free On-Line Dictionary of Computing</ulink>
for more information on recursive acronyms.
</para>
</answer>
</qandaentry>
<qandaentry id="faq.general.relation-versions">
<question>
<para>What is the relation between the versions?</para>
</question>
<answer>
<para>
PHP/FI 2.0 is an early and no longer supported version of PHP. PHP 3
is the successor to PHP/FI 2.0 and is a lot nicer. PHP 4 is the current
generation of PHP, which uses the <ulink url="&url.zend;">Zend
engine</ulink> under the hood. PHP 5 uses <ulink
url="&url.zend.future;">Zend engine 2</ulink> which, among other
things, offers many additional <link linkend="ref.classobj">OOP</link>
features.
</para>
</answer>
</qandaentry>
<qandaentry id="faq.general.running-concurent">
<question>
<para>Can I run several versions of PHP at the same time?</para>
</question>
<answer>
<para>
Yes. See the <filename>INSTALL</filename> file that is included
in the PHP 4 source distribution. Also, read the related
<link linkend="migration4.php4.with.php3">appendix</link>.
</para>
</answer>
</qandaentry>
<qandaentry id="faq.general.differences-34">
<question>
<para>What are the differences between PHP 3 and PHP 4?</para>
</question>
<answer>
<para>
There are <ulink url="&url.zend.articles;">a couple of articles</ulink>
written on this by the authors of PHP 4. Here's a list of some of
the more important new features:
<itemizedlist>
<listitem>
<simpara>Extended API module</simpara>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<simpara>Generalized build process under Unix</simpara>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<simpara>Generic web server interface that also supports
multi-threaded web servers</simpara>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<simpara>Improved syntax highlighter</simpara>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<simpara>Native HTTP session support</simpara>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<simpara>Output buffering support</simpara>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<simpara>More powerful configuration system</simpara>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<simpara>Reference counting</simpara>
</listitem>
</itemizedlist>
Please see the <ulink url="&url.zend.new;">What's new in
PHP 4 overview</ulink> for a detailed explanation of these
features and more. If you're migrating from PHP 3 to PHP 4,
also read the related <link linkend="migration4">appendix</link>.
</para>
</answer>
</qandaentry>
<qandaentry id="faq.general.bug">
<question>
<para>
I think I found a bug! Who should I tell?
</para>
</question>
<answer>
<para>
You should go to the PHP Bug Database and make sure the bug
isn't a known bug. If you don't see it in the database, use
the reporting form to report the bug. It is important to use
the bug database instead of just sending an email to one of the
mailing lists because the bug will have a tracking number assigned
and it will then be possible for you to go back later and check
on the status of the bug. The bug database can be found at
<ulink url="&url.php.bugs;">&url.php.bugs;</ulink>.
</para>
</answer>
</qandaentry>
</qandaset>
</chapter>
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