The languages used in WordPress programming are an important topic for system developers, templates, and plug-ins, as well as many of its users who aspire to improve their websites. Although using WordPress to create a site does not require learning the programming languages used in the program, doing so will provide you with capabilities And great possibilities to manage and improve your site better and more efficiently.
For this, in this article we will shed light on the languages used in WordPress programming, what benefits you will get when you learn them and how this can be done, but we will first take a simplified look at the WordPress content management system and how it works so that it is easier for you to understand the content of the article and take a correct first step in The way to learn wordpress development.
What is WordPress?
WordPress is an open source Content Management System that enables users to create and manage websites in all its forms without the need to learn the coding and programming languages that are used to build the web pages that make up the website.
WordPress consists of 4 main parts:
WordPress Core: It is a set of files that form the core of the program and includes codes in the languages used for programming WordPress, and the system cannot work without it. When WordPress is installed on the hosting, the kernel files are added to it, after which it is possible to work on the system through the management interface.
Database : All site data and settings are stored within a database of 12 tables, each of which stores data for specific elements that make up the site, for example, one table stores posts, another table stores links, and a third table stores comments.
Extra files: The files that are added to the system represent an addition to the WordPress kernel files, and they include plug-in files that add new functions to the program, template files that determine the appearance of the site for visitors, as well as files that are uploaded to hosting through WordPress.
Admin Screens : Also called the backend, it is a control panel that enables the user to manage the various aspects of the website by clicking on buttons and entering the necessary data without the need to use coding or programming languages.
How does WordPress work?
WordPress is installed on the web hosting in one of the ways through which it can be installed, and after the installation is completed, a copy of the WordPress kernel files has been created on the hosting and the necessary database has been created, and then it will be possible to access the backend through the login link and the login data.
It is through the backend that most of the tasks of creating and managing the site are performed, as this interface includes many tools that help to carry out these tasks, including, for example , the component editor that enables you to create pages and articles by adding data to the database to be called later. When a page or article is visited by a visitor.
Therefore, the idea on which WordPress is based is that it facilitates the creation and management of a website by facilitating the entry of data to be communicated to visitors, and displaying this data in a way that enables them to understand it in the form of a website with full functionality and features.
Languages used in WordPress programming
There are 4 basic languages used in the development and programming of WordPress, where all the code of the program's kernel files, template files, and plug-ins are written based on these languages, and we explain in the following paragraphs in detail the languages used in WordPress programming.
PHP
PHP is a server-side scripting language, versatile and open source, suitable for use in web development, it can be embedded in HTML code (as HTML code can be embedded in it), and most of the code lines for WordPress files are written in it, and its task is in WordPress to produce code appropriate HTML and send it to the user's browser to display a web page with appropriate elements for it.
When a request is sent by the client's (visitor's) browser to WordPress by entering a link to one of the site's pages in the browser bar or by clicking on a search result, this request is passed to a large number of code written in PHP that processes that request and generates a page HTML is appropriate, and sent to the browser for display.
PHP is also used in programming WordPress templates and plugins, and to see what their codes look like, you can download WordPress from the official website of the program in the form of a zip file, then decompress it, then open a file with the PHP extension using Notepad or any text editor program else, and watch the PHP code inside it.
Also read: Learn the basics of PHP and its importance in WordPress development
HTML
Almost all web pages that you visit through your internet browser consist of HTML code, including web pages that are part of a site managed using WordPress, as the PHP codes are not sent to the browser as we mentioned above, but the PHP code is generated HTML page compliant with the request and sent to the browser.
The letters of the name of the HTML language represent an abbreviation for the phrase ( Hyper Text Markup Language ) , which means in Arabic ( Hypertext Markup Language), and therefore it is not a programming language but a markup language that informs the web browser of the elements that it must display on the page, that is, documents HTML is just a big piece of text with tags telling the browser what it should make the pieces of text represent.
The previous code tells the web browser to make the phrase (Learn the most delicious food in the world) a title on the page because it is placed within the h1 element, and the browser responds by making it large, while the img tag instructs the browser to display an image with a link specified after the src, and the p tag tells the browser that Displays (food is any substance that is consumed by an organism to provide it with nutritional support...) as a paragraph on the page.
When you copy the previous code and insert it into a text document (for example, in TXT format), then change the extension of that file to (HTML), and open it with a web browser, a simple HTML page similar to the page shown in the following image will appear.
What appears when you open the HTML page using a web browser
What appears when you open the HTML page using a web browser
All web pages that are displayed are written in a similar way to what we just described, only in a way that appears to be more complex since they have to include a large number of elements, properties, and CSS code in order for them to appear properly to be understood by the visitor.
CSS
HTML basically defines the elements that will appear on the web page (image – text – link – …), while CSS determines the way these elements will appear, telling the browser, for example, to make the text color of the paragraph in the document green, which is always inherent in HTML It is not possible to create a good looking web page without using it.
CSS characters are an acronym for the phrase ( Cascading Style Sheets ) , which means in Arabic (cascading style sheets) or (style formatting pages), and it is not a programming language, but rather a formatting language whose mission is to inform the web browser of how it should format a document HTML out.
The CSS language is widely used in WordPress programming, as it is used in the WordPress kernel files in order to determine how the elements appear in the backend. There are a large number of files with the CSS extension in a folder called CSS located in the wp-includes folder in the main folder of the WordPress files.
CSS files located within the CSS kernel files
CSS files within the WordPress core files
When you open one of these CSS files, you will notice that it consists of rules similar to the following code:
h1 {
color: red;
}
p {
color: green;
background-color: black;
}
The previous code consists of two rules, where the first starts from h1 and ends before p, and the second starts from p and ends at the end of the code, and each rule consists of a set of properties (color and background) assigned values (red and black) and enclosed in brackets {}, in addition to to a selector (h1 and p).
An image showing the base components in the CSS language, which is widely used in WordPress programming
An image showing the base components in the CSS language, which is widely used in WordPress programming
There are a large number of different properties in CSS, and each defines something specific about the element, where the color property in the previous example specifies the color of the text of the element applied to it, while the background-color property specifies the background color of the element, while the selector specifies the element or elements to be applied properties written after it.
In addition to being used in programming the core of the WordPress system, CSS is also used in programming WordPress templates, because the template determines how the website will appear and CSS determines how the elements will appear. It is one of the important languages in template programming, and a WordPress template cannot be created without using it. It is also used in plug-in programming.
Also read: Explain HTML and CSS and how to use them and modify their code completely
Javascript
Javascript is a programming language used to make a web page interactive by making its elements respond in specific ways to events triggered by the user on the page. For example, JavaScript can change the color of specific text on a page when it or another element is clicked.
Javascript can be used on the client side or on the server side, that is, the JavaScript code can be sent to the browser for processing, or the code can be processed by the server and then sent to the browser for execution directly, but JavaScript is used in WordPress programming as a language From the client side only, i.e. the code is sent to the browser for processing.
Although it is used in programming the core of the WordPress system, as there are a good number of JavaScript files with the JS extension within the WordPress files, as well as within many WordPress template files, they are not very necessary, as for example a WordPress template can be created Integrated without using Javascript or anything associated with it.
It is worth noting that in addition to the Javascript programming language, JavaScript libraries are also used in the programming of WordPress templates and plugins, including the basic Javascript libraries, the jQuery library and a number of its extensions, in addition to many other libraries.
Also read: Explanation of JavaScript for beginners and its use in the structure of the WordPress system
Benefits of learning WordPress programming
We mentioned earlier that the WordPress content management system is open source, which means that anyone can view and modify its source code, but you will not be able to make any modifications to the WordPress code or even understand that code unless you have enough knowledge of the languages used to write it. Therefore, you have to learn the WordPress programming languages if you want to do anything related to the WordPress source code.
Also, learning the languages used in WordPress programming and its dependencies gives you the ability to create and modify plugins and templates, and this gives the backend user high-level technical capabilities that are very useful in managing and improving the website with a short time and effort.
And in the event that you are not a website manager or a user of the WordPress backend, learning the WordPress programming languages can make you a WordPress developer, and this allows you to provide distinguished and high-quality services to customers who want to deal with people with high capabilities and capabilities in the system, and this provides you with a source of income excellent.
Languages to be learned
Building a website using WordPress does not require programming knowledge in the natural case, and the WordPress programming languages that must be learned differ according to the goal that it aspires to achieve. If you want to make very simple modifications to the website design, learning the basics of both HTML and CSS may be Enough, but if you manage to make high-level adjustments, it will not be enough.
PHP is the basic programming language used in programming the WordPress system, plugins, and themes, and you must learn it if you want to make modifications to the code functions of any of these things or even if you just want to understand what is written in the code in its files.
If you want to become a professional WordPress developer who can make modifications to WordPress core files, create and modify professional WordPress plugins and templates, you will have to master the four languages used in WordPress programming, i.e. HTML, CSS, PHP and Javascript, theoretically and practically by study and apply it.
A professional WordPress developer should also have knowledge of the Ajax technology that many developers currently use, as although it is not a programming language, it can provide powerful advantages because it enables the visitor to exchange data with the server after loading the page, and this allows parts to be updated. of the page without reloading it completely.
With regard to the order that it is preferable to follow while learning WordPress programming, it is better first to start learning HTML and CSS because they are the main languages in web development, then you can move to PHP and master it, and after that you can learn Javascript, but we would also like to point out that this process of learning Languages are a continuous process, as we should not stop learning everything new in it.
How to learn WordPress programming
First, before you start learning WordPress programming in order to have the ability to make software modifications or develop templates and plugins, you must be familiar with how the system works and know how to use it, and you can learn all of this by reading our various articles about WordPress on the site, as well as by creating a local WordPress And try it and use it for a while.
And after you become familiar with the various aspects of WordPress, you can start learning the coding and programming languages used in it. In fact, there are many resources that enable owners of different levels to master the WordPress programming languages, and since it is preferable to start with HTML and CSS, we advise you to first review the article ( Explanation of HTML and CSS and how to use them and modify their codes completely ) on the WordPress Arabic site Most of the basics of the two languages have been explained.
And in order to become professional in HTML and CSS, as well as in PHP and Javascript, you can rely on the professional free courses offered by w3schools . And in the event that you want an Arabic source, it may be very useful to see Hsoub Academy’s articles on programming, but if you are ready to invest some money in learning these languages, and you are not proficient in English, then the best option for you is to obtain the paid visual courses provided by Hsoub Academy, where they are considered The best courses in this field are in Arabic.
Likewise, you should never dispense with reviewing our site's articles during learning and after completing the courses, as we have included in them many methods and ideas that cannot be found in educational courses, because these courses mainly talk about programming languages, while our site provides explanations related to Everything related to the WordPress content management system, including the programming languages used in it and others.
And here, dear reader, we have finished introducing you to the languages used in WordPress programming, the benefits of learning them, and how to do that based on high-quality free and paid Arabic and foreign sources that provide you with a theoretical and practical understanding of the various aspects of programming languages and their connection to WordPress.
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