PHP & MySQL: The Missing Manual

Chapter 1. PHP: What, Why, and Where?

PHP is ultimately text, taken by your web server and turned into a set of commands and information for your web browser. And because you’re just working in text, there’s not a lot you have to do to get going as a PHP programmer. You need to get familiar with PHP itself—and the best way to do that is to install PHP on your own computer, even though most of your programs will run on a web server.

Then, you need to run an actual script. Don’t worry; it’s amazingly easy to write your first program in PHP, and you’ll end up writing more than just one program before you hit Chapter 2.

And through it all? You’ll begin taking control. PHP gives you the ability to be an active participant in your web pages. It lets you listen carefully to your users and say something back. So get going; no reason to leave you users with passive HTML pages any longer.

Gathering Your Tools

You’ll need to take just a few steps before you can start with PHP. You can’t build a website without a web browser, and you can’t write PHP without a few tools. But it won’t take long before you’ve got your computer set up with your own customized PHP programming environment.

Although PHP isn’t pre-loaded on every computer like web browsers are, you can easily download PHP from the Internet, get it working on your computer, and get up and running fast…all without spending a dime. On top of that, most of the easiest and best tools for writing PHP code are also free. All you need is your own ...