Ummm… What does PHP mean?

Posted by Jim Stroud

October 18, 2005

Okay, imagine that you are a 3rd party recruiter and anxious to please your potential client. You ask them what they need and they say that they want a PHP Guru. You say “sure,” but secretly you are clueless as to what PHP is. Sure you could search on the acronym, but what about those geeks who spell out the unabbreviated term on their resume? My advice, leave no stone unturned. This is when you should consult Acronmya.

Acronyma is an online dictionary with a Google like interface. (And is there any other type interface out there? If there is, I can’t tell.) Just punch in the acronym and before you can say “contingency fee,” you have the answer. Actually you will have several answers. In our example (below), I am searching for the true meaning of the acronym “PHP.” This is what I got.

Professional Hypertext Preprocessor is the answer I was looking for. (I have the arrow pointing to it.) But did you know PHP also means “Page Home Page,” “Personal Home Page” and “Parents Helping Parents?” Okay, I did not know either, however I do see a good use for this tool. Enjoy!