why are most websites today are made in php as opposed to jsp or asp?

Answer 1

1) PHP is opensource.
2) Freely available (i.e. no cost to get it, other than downloading it).
3) PHP is very C++ in the style that you write, as well as functions that exist are pretty clear (albeit not always).

Then again, I've worked with companies that chose to use a specific language, and also companies that intermingled the 2. The last are the best ones, because it makes you become very, very adaptable.

Answer 2

1. PHP is publicly licensed (free to use with minimal restrictions)
2. PHP is usually deployed on a LAMP (Linux/Apache/MySQL/PHP) which all are publicly licensed
3. PHP is relatively easy to learn

The downside of PHP is that it's a scripting language as opposed to a compiled language which has a number of consequences
- Dependent on the Interpreter for performance
- Will not scale up well compared to the others for massively large number of simultaneous users
- Limitations in functionality if you're trying to do something very unusual.
- Possible security issues. More precisely, compiled code has more ways to address security issues which is not the same thing as saying that PHP is necessarily insecure.

Answer 3

Apart from it's availability, it works on any platform, it maintains consistency from version to version, and is very lightweight in operation. As fast as anyone can learn anything MS, the system changes enough to need a total re-learn, also the software is expensive to upgrade.