Axis 2400 - PHP3 GUIDE Manual page 4

1 Why PHP?
PHP, which stands for "PHP: Hypertext Preprocessor" was chosen as the scripting
language to use in some Axis Video products since:
!
PHP is a well-known and widely used scripting language; in Feb 2001 an
estimate of 23% of all Internet web servers used PHP (nearest "competing" script
language was Perl with about 7%).
!
The language syntax closely resembles Java, Perl and C, making it easy to learn
for anyone with basic programming skills.
!
Version 3, PHP3 could easily be scaled down to a smaller footprint required for
embedded devices.
!
PHP enables the creation of dynamic web pages quickly; the PHP code is simply
embedded into the HTML code. At the most basic level PHP can do anything
that any other scripting language or CGI program can do, such as collect html
form data and generate dynamic page content.
!
PHP is a complete scripting language with functionality such as file operations,
network sockets, e-mail client (SMTP) and an FTP client. All very useful in
Network Camera applications.
The integration of event handling in Axis Video products, and a powerful scripting
language such as PHP, gives knowledgeable developers endless opportunities to tailor
the functionality of Axis Video products to fit their specific needs.
Axis Communications AB does not provide support for application development of any kind. The
information here is provided "as is", and there is no guarantee that any of the examples shown
will work in your particular application.
Revision 0.91 June 2001
PHP3 Guide
3