Wednesday, December 3, 2008

PHP introduction

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: http://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


No comments: