PHP is Hypertext Preprocessor. Previously called Personal Home Page. PHP website PHP Manual

• PHP language is purely for web development. That's the main focus of this language.
• PHP is a server side scripting language. It means it runs on the server.
• PHP uses interpreter.
• PHP code is embeded inside an HTML page and that code runs on the server.
• When PHP code is executed it gets converted into HTML code and that HTML code then gets sent to the browser.

Characteristics of PHP

• Simplicity (simple to write PHP code)
• Efficiency
• Security
• Flexibility
• Familiarity

Books

• Learning PHP, MySQL & JavaScript: With jQuery, CSS & HTML5
• Murach's PHP and MySQL (RECOMENDED - check its 3rd edition too which is latest)
• PHP Programing with MySQL By Don Gosselin and Diana Kokoska
• PHP and MySQL for Dynamic Web Sites by Larry Ullman
• The code examples used in this website are of PHP 7.3 version.
• To setup your PHP Environment go to the Installation page.