PHP & Web Services PHP is an ideal language to implement and use a web service as the available packages simplify the implementation details. The syntax is similar to Perl, so it should not be difficult to read and understand the sample code provided in this tutorial. While PHP does not bundle classes/packages/modules to make use of SOAP, two major SOAP implementations exist that can be downloaded and easily installed. They are: NuSOAP, and PHP:PEAR::SOAP. PEAR refers to the “PHP Extension and Application Repository.” It is a distribution system for reusable Open-Source PHP classes/packages/modules.