Way back in 2003, WordPress released its first version as a simple blogging platform and continued to improve until it became the most popular blogging tool. Later, it continued to improve as a CMS and now has a reputation for being the most popular CMS. These days everyone sees WordPress as a CMS rather than just a blogging tool.
Now the question is, where will it go next?
Recent versions of WordPress have included popular web development libraries such as Backbone.js and Underscore.js and developers are building different types of applications with WordPress. So, we can assume that it's moving in the direction of building applications. It's important to keep an eye on the next few versions to see what WordPress offers for web applications.
Before we consider the application development aspects of WordPress, it's ideal to figure out the reasons for it being such a popular framework. The following are some of the reasons behind the success of WordPress as a CMS:
Plugin-based architecture for adding independent features and the existence of over 20,000 open source plugins
A super simple and easy-to-access administration interface
A fast learning curve and comprehensive documentation for beginners
A rapid development process involving themes and plugins
An active development community with awesome support
Flexibility in building websites with its themes, plugins, widgets, and hooks
These reasons prove why WordPress is the top CMS for website development. However, experienced developers who work with full stack web applications don't believe that WordPress has a future in web application development. While it's up for debate, we'll see what WordPress has to offer for web development.
Once you complete reading this book, you will be able to decide whether WordPress has a future in web applications. I have been working with full stack frameworks for several years, and I certainly believe the future of WordPress for web development.