It’s hard to explain just how much easier PHP made creating a dynamic web site back in the 90s / early 00s. You drop a file in your public web server folder and you’re done. Prior was CGI Perl scripts that hacked together how to access session and rest data. Or you had to develop in C. PHP had native support for the web. It also eliminate the need for an app server. I’m still not certain even today, if anything exist…
I was once asked in an interview for a PHP role what was my favourite feature of PHP and my answer was deployablitiy. In my opinion it can't really be matched on how easy it is to deploy. I can deploy any other language but it is never as easy as deploying PHP. The guy who was interviewing me was sitting their shaking his head like that wasn't a valid answer.
I wonder what would be the proper answer. Also if there is a proper answer, they shouldn't ask what your favourite feature is.
I hate it when people ask questions where they expect some sort of exact question to see if you think in the exact same manner as they do. Just ask me what you want to know or I'll pack my shit and leave.