There could be other reasons why you want to create an extension but by and large it would be related to one of the three reasons above.<\/p>\n
DEVELOPMENT LANGUAGE<\/h4>\n
Traditionally PHP extensions are written in C++. There are two options for development:<\/p>\n
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- Using the Zephir<\/a> language, which is a language specifically developed for writing PHP extensions. Its syntax is a mix of PHP and C and it takes care of a lot of housekeeping code and other stuff which you would have to deal with if you were to go the C++ way.<\/li>\n
- Using PHP-CPP<\/a> which is\u00a0 C++ library for creating PHP extensions. It provides a much better environment and framework than using barebones C++.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
We will be using PHP-CPP for the rest of the blog series. This article assumes you are working in Linux. (I am using Linux Mint 17 Qiana). At a later stage I will add sections for Windows and FreeBSD Unix. It is also assumed that you are familiar with C++ programming.<\/p>\n
SETUP PHP-DEV<\/h4>\n
Before you can make your extensions, you have to install the php5-dev package. To do that type<\/p>\n
sudo apt-get install php5-dev<\/em><\/p>\n
After installing php, you can run php-config from the shell prompt to find the directories in which the binaries and include files of PHP are installed.<\/p>\n
If you try to compile PHP-CPP in the next section without installing php5-dev you will get compile errors about files or folders missing.<\/p>\n
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DOWNLOAD AND SETUP PHP-CPP<\/h4>\n
PHP-CPP requires g++ version 4.8.* or later. If you have an older compiler then you should update it first.<\/p>\n
To get the latest version of PHP-CPP you can get it on github. But that is normally not a very stable version and you should only use it if you are already very familiar with PHP-CPP. The other option is to download a zip or tarball from their official site. This link<\/a> contains both the options.<\/p>\n
Make a directory and unzip the contents there. Then change working directory to the directory and run make and install.<\/p>\n
sudo make install<\/em><\/p>\n
On successful completion PHP-CPP should be ready for use.<\/p>\n
![\"Screenshot](\"https:\/\/truelogic.org\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/09\/Screenshot-from-2015-09-05-185121-620x361.png\")
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Check \/usr\/lib<\/em> to make sure that libphpcpp.so is present.<\/p>\n
![\"Screenshot](\"https:\/\/truelogic.org\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/09\/Screenshot-from-2015-09-05-190610-620x99.png\")
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Check \/usr\/include<\/em> to make sure phpcpp.h is present and the folder phpcpp has been created. This folder will contain all the header files of PHP-CPP.<\/p>\n
![\"Screenshot](\"https:\/\/truelogic.org\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/09\/Screenshot-from-2015-09-05-191035.png\")
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Next: See Part 2\u00a0 Your First Extension<\/a><\/h4>\n
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<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
- Using PHP-CPP<\/a> which is\u00a0 C++ library for creating PHP extensions. It provides a much better environment and framework than using barebones C++.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n