I like PHP and have used it (nominally) for a long time, mainly for the web (WordPress).
- It is a nice part of a backend stack including some flavor of SQL (such as MariaDB, SQLite -- the most widely deployed database).
- It plays well with FPS operating with a web server (I use Nginx).
But really we have to talk about applications, or frameworks when dealing with this.
PHP Web frameworks
- For development, CodeIgniter is still quite performant.
PHP and Go:
- https://dunglas.dev/2025/09/the-best-of-both-worlds-go-powered-grpc-for-your-php-and-api-platform-apps/
- https://chrastecky.dev/programming/go-meets-php-enhancing-your-php-applications-with-go-via-ffi
- https://github.com/deuill/go-php
Codeigniter PHP framework
- vs. Laraval, Symfony
- https://dev.to/suraj_kumar_fb57ae0928df2/codeigniter-tutorial-a-beginners-guide-to-php-framework-development-5ce7
PHP and ML / AI
- https://medium.com/@annxsa
- https://medium.com/@annxsa/php-and-machine-learning-seamless-integration-with-python-ml-tools-accf1446864d