One of the most effective and useful programming elements with which you can create a powerful structure in the backend of your site is the PHP programming language. Maybe this language is difficult for many programmers and they have problems working with it, but you will not find any programmer who will deny the power of this language and ignore the possibilities it will give you.

There are many plugins and programs that can work successfully in improving the execution of these codes and increase the efficiency of your site. ioncube loader is one of the best options that provides you with this possibility and we are going to address this issue in this article. So, stay with us by checking the answer to the question of what is ioncube loader.

What is the basis of ioncube loader work?

Optimizing the execution of PHP codes can be introduced as a short answer to this important question, i.e. what is the basis of ioncube loader’s work. To check ioncube loader, we must first see why we need these optimizations and where the work flow starts and what is the origin of this program and our need for it.

Where did PHP start?

It all goes back to 1994. A Canadian-Danish programmer first introduced a language called PHP, which became a giant on the web. Perhaps this programmer himself did not know at first what kind of practical language he introduced to the world, and in less than 20 years, the language created by his mind will become the biggest language for designing various websites dynamically.

PHP was born from the need to work with the database and connect the site to it. Rasmus Redloff, a professional programmer using C language, created a CGI or user interface for connecting to the web through which he could solve this need for himself. The initial name of this designed CGI was “Personal Home Page/Forms Interpreter”, which was called PHP/FI as an abbreviation. After making some changes, this programmer and his group released PHP Tools for use in the production and design of Dynamic sites, as well as finding system bugs and errors, which was the first version of this language. During the past years, various versions of this language were presented with changed features, the latest version of which is related to 2020 and is called PHP8.

The use of PHP language on the site has become an integral part of the development and construction of the site. So that it can be said that most of the design of a site and the work that is going to be done in the background will be done by PHP language. Maybe you know various site builders and platforms that seem to do the job of building a site without using this language, but you should know that in the background of all of them, or at least the most successful ones, PHP shines. WordPress can be mentioned as a prominent and large example of these platforms.

Why do we need ioncube loader?

What is the role of ioncube loader in this application language and how can it help your site? ioncube loader is responsible for optimization when executing codes in PHP language. You will have the ability to protect your PHP codes using this program. If you are familiar with the structure of this programming language, you know that PHP codes are written between HTML codes and are mixed with them. But if we look at the source code of the final version of the site that is implemented in the user’s system, we do not see these codes and they are hidden from our view, or at least they are supposed to be so, because there are ways to access these codes.

ioncube loader is a program that helps with this hiding and protection, preventing your code from being seen, modified and even executed on unlicensed systems. This is to prevent your code from being seen by those who shouldn’t see it, and to protect against identifying how the site works and the template you wrote. This protection of privacy and preventing the release of codes is one of the most important things that has made the use of the ioncube loader mechanism one of the practical and basic things.

By using this program, you will have the ability to license all the templates or plugins that you write. If ioncube loader codes your program and turns it into a machine language code, only those who have purchased your licenses will be able to use this program. Likewise, even if they have a license, these people do not have access to the code and can only use the program written by you as a user. This program will help you to keep the confidentiality of the codes as well as the copyright of the plugins and templates you have written.

Another thing that this program has a role in is site speed, which we owe to the special mechanism of the ioncube loader program. Let’s see together what is the mechanism of ioncube loader and how it is supposed to do these things for us.

What is the working mechanism of the ioncube loader program?

ioncube loader uses one of the oldest and most basic mechanisms in computer programming. All this program does for you is remove text codes from your site and replace them with browser-ready compiled codes and programs. But what does this mean?

Let’s say you want to cook. For this you need raw materials. You have to prepare the ingredients, cook them and serve your food with different combinations. PHP codes are the raw materials for you. What the ioncube loader does for you is remove this raw material from your site, and instead deliver the ready meal to your browser that just needs to be served.

All your browser has to do is bring the food to your table. By using this method, the speed of the process is increased and no one can understand your special recipe. Middlecodes are machine language files compiled from your PHP code that are designed to run in your browser. These codes have a feature that they cannot be easily translated, and even if translated, the original code cannot be recovered from them. Only the machine can translate this code, and execute it for you.

When you do this, you will be the only one who can edit these codes and put them back into a program in an intermediate language and in cryptographic form. So this method both guarantees privacy and security for you and guarantees fast execution due to less work on the browser and server.

Conclusion

As mentioned, ionCube loader is one of the PHP application modules that programmers can use to hide their written template codes or plugins from other people. We also explained how IonCube works, how it works, and the result is to maintain privacy and run codes in the browser faster. To run this module, it must be installed on the server and PHP must have access to it.

We hope that this article from the specialized blog of Softhost is practical and useful for you. To support us, you can share this article on social networks by mentioning the source.