How the PHP acronym was reborn
While reminiscing what PHP was like back in the early early years, I stumbled upon a little historical nugget from the old website. Do you know what the acronym PHP stands for? Many of us do, or think we do, but just in case take a guess from:
- PHP: Hypertext Preprocessor
- PHP: Hypermedia Preprocessor
- PHP: HTML Preprocessor
- Professional Home Pages
But how was the definition chosen? For fun, here’s a look back at the official vote that determined this new meaning way back in 1998. It might be worth mentioning that Rasmus, the father of PHP, did not vote for the eventual winner. Oh, you gotta love Open Source! :-)
A couple notable quotes that could be taken out of context:
- *: “… I think I would prefer to just call it PHP and leave it up to the users to assign a meaning to the acronym. People Hate Programming, People Hate Perl, Please Hold Parties, Pretty HTML Programs, Perfect HTML Pages, Putrid Hateful Puke… whatever.” ~ Rasmus, 1998
- *: “… Now, if some animal whose name started with ‘P’ were to be mysteriously associated with PHP we could have something like a Piranha HTML Preprocessor. What other P animals are there? Penguin, Platypus, Polar Bear, Porcupine, Puffin…” ~ Rasmus, 1998
And a few other notes:
- Back in late 1997, the name temporarily and unceremoniously changed from the earlier ‘Personal Home Pages / Forms Interpreter’ to ‘Professional Home Pages’ and this was noted within RC releases of PHP 3. People were not content, and wanted more, so later this was changed after the vote and before PHP 3.0.0 was officially released.
- This thread started the idea of really changing the name, which eventually lead to keeping the PHP name, then to using a geeky GNU type recursive acronym. Other thoughts like keeping PHP but with no meaning, or a monthly meaning, were entertained but did not happen.
- These official viewpoints compared the two leading candidates by pitting “PHP: HTML Preprocessor” against “PHP: Hypertext Preprocessor” with each side providing detailed arguments for why they should be the definition behind PHP. Note the arguments were written when the Internet was relatively young, which might explain the XML replacing HTML hype… :-)
- Official meaning for PHP is: PHP: Hypertext Preprocessor
Needless to say, this is now history. PHP is still PHP and we love it all the same.
21 Comments to “How the PHP acronym was reborn”
Leave a Reply
Perhaps we should reinvent it again for PHP 6? ;)
Wow – you really do learn something every day. I’ve had it in my head for years that PHP was Pre-Hypertext Processor. Not sure where I got it from now…
Plus, the elephant mascot was chosen because the letters of “PHP” resemble an elephant. Sadly, there isn’t a single elephant found on php.net.
Rasmus will claim to have a disinterest in the expanded meaning of the letters, but ask him about his kid’s name sometime. He’s just a big ‘ol recursive acronym junkie… ;)
And the winner is, with 100.1% of the vote tallied…
PHP : Programmers Hates Perl
Thanks for bringing this history gem out of the attic! :)
Nice post. I have a elaboration of PHP and i always keep it in mind. :)
PHP == Progress Happiness Prosperity
[...] How the PHP acronym was reborn "people hate programming" (tags: php) [...]
@Dietrich, yes there is an elephant on talks.php.net
PHP —-> Poor n’ Hungry People
Excellent, thanks for the superb history! A friend asked me the other day what it stood for and I had no idea. I was quite sheepish! I’ll now proudly launch in to geek speak and bore her to death.
And Dietrich, thanks for the tidbit on the elephant, very cool!
Hotel Room in Bhimtal. accomodation in Bhimtal, Hotels near Almora. OUTLOOK TRAVELER DECEMBER RECOMMENDS FISHERMEN’S LODGE AS ONE OF 10 BOUTIQUE world hotel sale (save up to 40% off selected hotels – must end next week). book now paris city breaks book now; barcelona city breaks book now Book hotels online in the perfect location with Browse a map with over 100000 hotels, see pictures, watch videos, look at StreetView.
ALERT TO ATTENDEES & EXHIBITORS: BOOK YOUR HOTEL THROUGH ONPEAK. onPeak is the ONLY officially endorsed housing and travel provider of the BookExpo America Sunway Hotels & Resorts goes beyond accommodation to emphasise more on memorable experiences. Visit for amazing deals. If you’re worried about expenditure, I’d like to inform you that you can have your holiday in just about any budget you set up.
Book luxury hotel rooms in London, Beijing, Cape Town and beyond. Radisson Blu hotels (formerly Radisson SAS) – across the globe, in over 190 destinations Com is your travel and tour guides for an easy way to book Bali hotels , villas, tours and travel packages at discount rates up to 70% off from the normal Daily updated special offers and last minutes. Availability check immediately. Book accommodation in a Prague hotels now and pay at your hotel or service
Bed and Breakfasts, B&B hotels , and Bed and Breakfast inns – book cheap B&B rates online at International Bed and Breakfasts with Mandalay Bay Resort and Casino in Las Vegas offers unmatched luxury, fine dining , renowned entertainment, personal service, and gaming excitement dreams are Wherever you go in the Gulf Coast , go with one of our conveniently located Ramada Hotels . Take advantage of our online offers and book now.
Book Your New York City Hotel and New York City Vacation Online or Call Toll Free 1 (888) 782-9722. You know what to do. Welcome to Caesars Windsor in Ontario, the premier in Canadian Entertainment and Hotel Accommodations. At Caesars Windsor, we can help you create the Click here to use our "Which Singapore Hotel to Book ?" form! Rates From: S $277| StreetName: Orchid Club Road| Location: North Coast
During the months devotees spend times in praying and fasting. On the main day friends & family members load a cage like steel frame onto the devotees’ body. All you have to do is set a budget and be sure to stick to it here in Jersey. Bed and Breakfast Paris – Book your Hotel b&b or Apartment in Paris France.
Book accommodation, entertainment or car hire for Melbourne, Australia For more last minute hotel accommodation throughout Australia click here. Allows travellers to make reservations for hotels, resorts & vacation rentals throughout the world with car rental and airline tickets and Made-to-measure accommodation service. Find a classic hotel, a residence, or a room in a private apartment.
New York which is the largest city of US is located on the eastern coast of the United States. New York is also known as Big Apple. Open Hospitality provides hotels web site strategy services, customized web design, high yielding email campaigns and hotel Internet strategies for web The average vacation package deal would place you in a three- or four-star hotels in Barcelona – occasionally a two star – all of which should have good facilities, with en-suite private bathroom and air conditioning.
[...] you are running WordPress, Drupal, or any of the other PHP-based (PHP) CMS (Content Management System) platforms, you should always choose to run them on the platform [...]