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PHP is a server-side scripting language.

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 our Home page.

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

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