Unleashing the Full Potential of PHP: How to Overcome the Limitations of Web Development

Morteza
3 min readMar 17, 2023

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As a PHP developer, you may have experienced a limitation in the range of applications you can create. Unlike other programming languages like Python, PHP is often associated only with web development, and many developers believe that PHP is only useful for creating websites. However, this is far from the truth. With the right skills and knowledge, PHP developers can create a wide range of applications, including desktop applications, command-line tools, system utilities, and more. But how can we overcome this limitation and create useful applications for ourselves and others?

As a PHP developer myself, I also had this limitation in mind until I created the “daily-routine” repository. I wanted an easy way to gather all of my daily tasks in one place, such as monitoring my computer’s resources, checking cryptocurrency prices, reading news headlines, and viewing the weather forecast for my location. That’s why I created the “daily-routine” repository, a page that contains all of these features and can be easily run on any machine.

daily-routine application

But how can other PHP developers create similar applications without the need for a web server and domain? This is where the “serve” command comes in. The serve command is a tool that is available through PHPKG, a package manager for PHP. This command allows developers to easily download, install, build, and serve a repository on any machine without the need for a web server or domain. In the case of the “daily-routine” repository, a user can simply run the command


phpkg serve https://github.com/php-repos/daily-routine.git

on their local machine, and the repository will be served with all of its features available.

Having such tools that can easily let developers use their skills and knowledge can change the way we think about PHP and the range of applications that we tend to create. With the `serve` command, PHP developers can create applications for themselves and others that don’t require a web server or domain, and can be easily run on any machine. The only limit is our own imagination and creativity.

If you are interested in the serve command and would like to learn more about it, you can refer to its documentation available here. Additionally, phpkg also offers a run command which provides similar functionality to the serve command, but instead of serving the application, it displays the output of the application directly in your terminal. Check out its documentation here.

In conclusion, PHP is not limited to web development, and PHP developers can create a wide range of applications for themselves and others. The “daily-routine” repository and the “serve” command are just examples of what can be achieved with PHP. So, let’s break free from the limitations of web development and start creating applications that can make our lives and the lives of others easier.

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