PHP is a popular language for web design, that powers sites like Facebook and Wikipedia.
It started out as a server-side scripting language, when it was created by Rasmus Lerdorf, back in 1994. But since then, it has evolved into an object-oriented general purpose programming language.
Despite continuous criticism from community over the years, for being a poorly designed language; PHP continues to be a solid rock when it comes to web development. Matured frameworks such as Laravel and Cake PHP has changed the landscape of PHP web development.