What is PHP?

What You Should Already Know
Before you continue you should have a basic understanding of the following:
- HTML/XHTML

- JavaScript
If you want to study these subjects first, find the tutorials on W3Schools.
What is PHP?
- PHP stands for PHP: Hypertext Preprocessor

- PHP is a server-side scripting language, like ASP

- PHP scripts are executed on the server

- PHP supports many databases (MySQL, Informix, Oracle, Sybase, Solid, PostgreSQL, Generic ODBC, etc.)

- PHP is an open source software

- PHP is free to download and use
What is a PHP File?
- PHP files can contain text, HTML tags and scripts

- PHP files are returned to the browser as plain HTML

- PHP files have a file extension of '.php', '.php3', or '.phtml'
What is MySQL?
- MySQL is a database server

- MySQL is ideal for both small and large applications

- MySQL supports standard SQL

- MySQL compiles on a number of platforms

- MySQL is free to download and use
PHP + MySQL
- PHP combined with MySQL are cross-platform (you can develop in Windows and serve on a Unix platform)
Why PHP?
- PHP runs on different platforms (Windows, Linux, Unix, etc.)

- PHP is compatible with almost all servers used today (Apache, IIS, etc.)

- PHP is FREE to download from the official PHP resource: www.php.net

- PHP is easy to learn and runs efficiently on the server side
Where to Start?
To get access to a web server with PHP support, you can:

- Install Apache (or IIS) on your own server, install PHP, and MySQL

- Or find a web hosting plan with PHP and MySQL support



More posts to follow in this ten part tutorial series.

Author: Xpress Media / Posted: 25-03-2011